Image of the Day: Spinning Webs

ABOVE: The complex, 3-D web architecture from a Cyrtophora citricola spider
ISABELLE SU, ZHAO QIN, TOMÁS SARACENO, ADRIAN KRELL, ROLAND MÜHLETHALER, ALLY BISSHOP, AND MARKUS J. BUEHLER

Researchers have assembled an imaging platform to digitally section, scan, and capture the full architecture of webs spun by the spider Cyrtophora citricola. Using 2-D images that record cross-sectional details of the web at the micron level and algorithms, the team reconstructed its 3-D structure. The resulting model could help with studies examining the biomedical and biomimetic applications of 3-D spider webs, according to the study published today (September 19) in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

I. Su et al., “Imaging and analysis of a three-dimensional spider web architecture,” J R Soc Interface, doi:10.1098/rsif.2018.0193, 2018.