Jumping spiders don’t build webs, but like their arachnid kin, they can produce silk. Some species are known to spin fine threads as they leap, presumably to stabilize takeoff and ensure a more controlled landing. Since these draglines aren’t tasked with entangling struggling prey, researchers have wondered how they compare to the silks made by other species. Spider silk is considered a very robust natural biomaterial, with research finding it stronger than steel.
Harvard neurobiologist Paul Shamble and his colleagues decided to examine the silk produced by zebra jumping spiders (Salticus scenicus). Little did they know they were in for what Shamble says was “a huge surprise”: the strength of this spiders’ silk parallels—and even surpasses—that of most orb weaver spiders, which produce the strongest silks known.
First, to measure the speed of the spiders’ spinning, Shamble and his team collected the animals locally in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and recorded them ...
