SPIDER AND ITS COBWEB

A house spider (Parasteatoda tepidariorum) engenders the web with adhesion that can be vigorous enough to stick to a wall or impotent enough to detach from the ground and thus act as a spring-loaded trap for ambulating prey.

How does the spider engender both vigorous and impuissant anchors for its web with a single type of glue?

A SPIDER’S SCAFFOLDING DISC

CONSIDER:

The spider anchors its web to a wall, a ceiling, or a kindred surface by weaving highly adhesive patches of silk called scaffolding discs, which are vigorous enough to withstand the impact of flying prey. Researchers at the University of Akron, Ohio, U.S.A., have discovered that, on the other hand, the patches of silk that are affixed to the ground—called gumfoot discs—have an entirely different architecture or construction. With far fewer affixment points than scaffolding discs, gumfoot discs sanction the web to detach with facileness and yank off the ground any prey that has ambulated into it.

A SPIDER’S GUMFOOT DISC

According to a news release from the University of Akron, the researchers who unearthed this wonder of nature “are already working toward developing a synthetic adhesive that mimics this perspicacious design strategy employed by the house spider.” Scientists hope to engender an adhesive that can be used both for prevalent bandages and for treating bone fractures.

What do you celebrate? Did the house spider’s facility to engender impotent and vigorous anchors with the same glue come about by evolution? Or was it designed?