The Itsy Bitsy spider inspired a microphone

If spiders use their webs as a large external eardrum, the researchers reasoned, perhaps spider silk could provide the basis for a powerful listening device.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Engineers and scientists are fascinated by spider silk. Similar to the typical worm silk that makes comfortable sheets, but much stronger, this material inspired the invention of lighter, more breathable body armor and materials that could make aircraft components more durable. solid without adding weight. Researchers are even using examples from spider webs to design sensitive microphones that may one day be used to treat hearing loss and deafness and improve other listening devices.

Spiders use webs similar to enormous external eardrums. A team of scientists from Binghamton University and Cornell University reported in 2022 that the webs allow arachnids to detect sounds from a distance of 3 meters.

When you hear a sound in your ear, what you actually feel is changes in air pressure that cause your eardrum to vibrate. This is how microphones work: by mimicking the human ear and vibrating in response to pressure.

Spider webs serve a similar purpose but use a different mechanism .

< figure class="sizeMedium css-sx232s" aria-label="media" role="group" data-testid="VideoBlock">VideoA spider moves its body in response to sounds moving in particular parts of its web.CreditCredit.. .Zhou et al.

Instead of vibrating when hit by a wave of pressure like a stick hitting a skin of drum, they move with the displaced air flow. Air is a fluid medium "like honey," said Ronald Miles, a professor of mechanical engineering at Binghamton. Humans navigate this environment without noticing much resistance, but the silk fibers are buffeted by the speed of viscous forces in the air.

Dr. Miles couldn't help but wonder if this principle could lead to a new type of microphone.

"Humans are sort of arrogant animals," a- he declared. “They make devices that work like them.” But he wondered about the possibility of building a device that would look more like a spider and detect "sound with the movement of air."

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