It's not just Charlotte's Web

Photo: Hwo-Shuenn Sheu, NSRRC

The amazing properties of spider webs have fascinated scientists for years. Some of the mysteries of the spider's thread (such as the radii and spirals of threads produced by the Nephila pilips spider shown above) are unraveling through the use of synchrotron light sources. We now know that the remarkable thermal stability and the equatorial reflections of the spider's weavings are due to the crystals in the orb-web. These properties remain undiminished even over 100 degrees Celsius.

Perhaps an old Buddhist story from hundreds of years ago complements and enhances the scientific papers on this topic.

A long long time ago, a somewhat cruel thief called Gadado went straight to the place of eternal punishment after he died. The torment was unbearable and remorse arose in Gadado. One day, Buddha passed by and heard a weary sigh. Deciding to give Gadado a second chance, Buddha said, "If you manage to recall even a small favor you have done for someone, forgiveness will be granted to you." Pitifully, Gadado could recall none. As Buddha was about to leave, a tiny spider wandered toward Gadado, speaking of his kindness for once not stepping on the spider while on his way to rob some travelers. "Let your savior be saved by you." Buddha smiled at the heroic little creature. The spider climbed up the cliff and sent a very thin spider thread down. The grateful and almost jubilant Gadado held on to the thread and started moving up. Halfway up, he looked down and realized that a handful of people had clung to the fine thread below him. Worrying the thin filament might break, Gadado, who had so soon forgotten the reason for his forgiveness, kicked them down hard. "Go to hell," he said. And, to hell he also went again.

Had Gadado been a synchrotron user he might have known that a bunch of spider threads can easily pull an 11-passenger Learjet. 

Diana Lin, National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Taiwan