ABOVE: Two-dimensional scans of a tropical tent spider’s web are shown in different colors and combined to represent a 3-D image that was then translated into sound.
ISABELLE SU AND MARKUS BUEHLER
After building a web, spiders sit patiently, waiting for the movements of their prey to vibrate the silk strands beneath them like guitar strings. Seizing upon this analogy, researchers from MIT have introduced “Spider’s Canvas,” an algorithm that turns spiderweb vibrations into a digital stringed instrument. They presented their results on Monday (April 12) during the virtual spring meeting of the American Chemical Society.
“The spider lives in an environment of vibrating strings,” Markus Buehler, who presented the work, says in a press release. “They don’t see very well, so they sense their world through vibrations, which have different frequencies.”
The shape of each spider’s web is unique to the species. While some species create those iconic, spoked ...
