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CRIBELLATE STRUCTURE. "Cribellate silk is composed of a pair of axial fibres (produced by the pseudo-flagelliform glands) surrounded by a sheath of microscopic fibrils that are brushed onto the axial fibres from a specialized plate called a cribellum. This silk is dry and achieves its stickiness via hygroscopic and van der Waals forces." https://lnkd.in/dqTjK77 View in LinkedIn

STRUCTURAL STRENGTH. "Webs with a low radial to spiral turn ratio can be classed as low-energy absorbing, while webs with a high radial to spiral turn ratio are high-energy absorbing." https://lnkd.in/dqTjK77 View in LinkedIn

RADIAL THREADS. "The high tensile strength and hysteresis of radial threads means they not only support the web but also work as shock absorbers during prey impact, while the geometric regularity of the web may help to spread prey energy out over more radial threads. Also, as radials have high tensile strength and stiffness while capture silks have lower strength but high elasticity, the ratio of radials to capture spiral turns may determine the energy-absorbing capabilities of a web." https://lnkd.in/dqTjK77 View in LinkedIn

DURABILITY. "While silks in general are very long-lived materials, theridiid webs do not contain viscid (flagelliform) silk, which shows a much more rapid decline in mechanical properties when compared with dragline silk. Factors driving evolution beyond the orb-web remain largely unexplored and too often neglect the role of silk properties despite silk being central to web function." https://lnkd.in/dqTjK77 View in LinkedIn

DEGREES OF PERMANENCE. "Three-dimensional webs tend to be more permanent structures when compared with many orb-webs that are often replaced daily. This will perhaps select for silks better equipped to deal with repeated and prolonged stresses, and for silks more resistant to permanent deformation (i.e. higher yield values)." https://lnkd.in/dqTjK77 View in LinkedIn

GEOMETRIC CONSIDERATIONS. "Sheet-webs and cobwebs generally exhibit reduced geometric regularity when compared with orb-webs, although within species there is still a high degree of structural stereotypy. The reduced geometric regularity and decreased use of capture silk in cobwebs and sheet-webs make them absorb prey energy very differently from orb-webs." https://lnkd.in/dqTjK77 View in LinkedIn

Artificial spider silk View in LinkedIn

FATEFUL TRANSITION. "Whatever meaning one assigns to the history of life, the advent of eukaryotic cells marked a radical and fateful transition." http://www.pnas.org/content/112/33/10278.full View in LinkedIn

RICHER POTENTIAL. "Compared to prokaryotes, eukaryotic cells represent not only an alternative mode of cellular organization but one endowed with far richer evolutionary potential: only among Eukarya do we find integrated multicellular creatures that bear embryos, respond to music, and reflect on their own nature." http://www.pnas.org/content/112/33/10278.full View in LinkedIn

SHARED FEATURES EMERGING. Now we are finding "the appearance among prokaryotes of precursors of structures or processes once thought to be exclusive to and universal among eukaryotes—endomembrane systems comprising the nucleus, endoplasmatic reticulum, and Golgi apparatus and a cytoskeleton involved in cellular motility, phagocytosis, and vesicular trafficking." http://www.pnas.org/content/112/33/10278.full View in LinkedIn