SPIDERWEB glue is not only sticky, it is also elastic like chewing gum – making it difficult to escape from.
of the University of Akron in Ohio used microscopic probes to test beads of glue on an orb spider’s web and found that elasticity was key. He calculates that the combination of sticky and stretchy makes the glue 100 times stronger than previously thought (Nature Communications, ).
The glue was stickier when the probe was pulled away quickly, and more elastic when it was pulled slowly. Spiders capitalise on this: the web is stickiest when prey slams…
