Truth matters. Community matters. Your support makes both possible. LAist is one of the few places where news remains independent and free from political and corporate influence. Stand up for truth and for LAist. Make your year-end tax-deductible gift now.
How Spiders Can Improve 3D Printing Technology
Listen
1:40
Listen to the Story
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
There's a lot we can learn from spiders. Engineering professor Markus Buehler and his team at MIT have been studying them. They believe their research into spider silk could help create smarter 3D printers and stronger, greener building materials.
NOEL KING, HOST:
He and his team also made three-dimensional scans of spider webs and then translated those into music.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARKUS BUEHLER: We're traveling through the spider web from one end to the other end at constant velocity. And as we go through, we're going to hear different sections of the spider web be excited. And we can hear those sounds.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
Sponsored message
BUEHLER: So when the song is very busy in the beginning, it means there are many different types of threads connected.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
BUEHLER: You hear the changes in the structure and the structural complexity in sound.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
BUEHLER: Definitely sounds creepy, weird and unusual. But you're beginning to experience and have reference to something like a spider. And when you walk away, you become a little bit like a spider, perhaps.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
BUEHLER: Once you are able to explore the world of the spider, you could potentially communicate with the spider.
Sponsored message
KING: That's right, he just said you could potentially communicate with the spider.
BUEHLER: These words aren't words in the traditional sense, but they're vibrational patterns that we're trying to generate and then, later, the web and see whether we can induce the spider to respond to that in some ways.
MARTIN: So we asked Buehler if he'd thought about what his first message to the spider would be.
BUEHLER: We're probably going to see whether we can attract the spider to come to us. But I think we'll probably start by simulating some prey being caught on the web.
MARTIN: In other words, lunch is served.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our connected community. We are free to tell the full truth, to hold power to account without fear or favor, and to follow facts wherever they lead. Our only loyalty is to our audiences and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen our community.
Right now, LAist has lost $1.7M in annual funding due to Congress clawing back money already approved. The support we receive before year-end will determine how fully our newsroom can continue informing, serving, and strengthening Southern California.
If this story helped you today, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Your tax-deductible donation keeps LAist independent and accessible to everyone.
Right now, LAist has lost $1.7M in annual funding due to Congress clawing back money already approved. The support we receive before year-end will determine how fully our newsroom can continue informing, serving, and strengthening Southern California.
If this story helped you today, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Your tax-deductible donation keeps LAist independent and accessible to everyone.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
