A study conducted by National Chung Hsing University has revealed how jumping spiders use a silk dragline to stabilize themselves in mid-air and control their landings.
Slow-motion footage revealed the spiders use their silk draglines to stabilize their bodies and to brake, enabling them to land poised and ready to pounce on prey.
Scientists say that the discovery could inspire new robot design.
Photo: Tsai Shu-yuan, Taipei Times
The findings appeared on the Journal of the Royal Society Interface Web site on Aug. 7 and were also reported on by the BBC and Science News.
Interface is a peer-reviewed online scientific journal that started publication in 2004, and includes reviews, research articles and short reports from the interface between physical sciences and life sciences.
The study, conducted by physics professor Chi Kai-jung (紀凱容), used high-speed cameras — 1,000 frames per second — to shoot more than 10,000 photographs of the Adanson’s house jumper, Hasarius adansoni, a species of jumping spider.
Chi said academics had concluded that macrovertebrates, such as humans, kangaroos or lizards, maintained balance by using inertia from swinging limbs or tails, while other creatures utilized aerodynmaic forces by flapping wings.
“My study may have provided a third possibility of how life in nature keeps balance,” Chi said, pointing to how the Adanson’s house jumper is able to maintain balance — even after flipping in the air — by using one strand of silk.
Chi said the key lay in the fact that the spider places a silk dragline on the ground before it jumps, and continues to pump out the silk while still in the air, adding that the spider was able to change direction in the air through tightening or loosening an internal organ, which Chi describes in the article as a type of friction brake.
The study discovered that the spider, 6mm in length, was able to jump 80mm horizontally in 1.5 seconds and was able to quickly regain its footing or change direction if it used a silk dragline. Non-silk jumping spiders without the draglines would land badly more often and take five times as long to steady themselves.
Chi said that the study integrated research into the kinesiology of spiders and the mechanics of spider silk, adding that the results may be applied to rock climbing equipment as well and robots.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
RSS