SOU ND
DON’T JUST GIVE THESE PAGES A LOOK—GIVE THEM A LISTEN. USE YOUR PHONE’S CAMERA TO
SCAN THE QR CODE WITH EACH ARTICLE TO HEAR THE SOUNDS IT DESCRIBES.LACKING SHARP EYESIGHT, spiders use their legs to feel
vibrations in their webs. A web’s silken strands have
different lengths and tensions and, as a result, different
frequencies. The resident spider is attuned to those fre-
quencies to detect prey, potential mates, or threats. Now, a group
of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology aims to
convey a bit of that Spidey sense to humans. With 3D laser imaging
based on cobweb cross sections (above), the MIT team mapped
the web of a tropical tent-web spider. To the strands, the scien-
tists assigned musical tones audible to humans. They also built
a virtual reality interface that lets users “play” the spiderweb like
an eerie-sounding stringed instrument. “We’re trying to give the
spider a voice,” said MIT’s Markus Buehler—and, maybe someday,
communicate with the arachnid via vibrations. —HICKS WOGANPHOTOS: M. BUEHLER, T. SARACENO, I SU, ET AL. (WEB); ALAMY STOCK PHOTO (SPIDER)ISSUE
WELCOME TO EARTHPAGE
NO. 14