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DIRICHLET TESSELLATIONS and spider webs. "Plane pictures of three-dimensional convex polyhedra, plane sections of three-dimensional Dirichlet tessellations, and flat spider webs with tension in all the threads are essentially the same geometric object. At the root of this remarkable coincidence is a single geometric diagram that permits us to offer a unified image of the connections among these and other objects." http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-0-387-92714-5_18 View in LinkedIn

SHORTCUTS OF THE TIERED WEAVER. "Webs built in unnaturally rapid succession by the same spider (4 in 24 h when 1 is the norm) became sequentially smaller, had fewer radii, shorter capture spirals, and were wider meshed." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031938497001868 View in LinkedIn

SONG OF DARWIN. "The more I study nature, the more I become impressed […] that the contrivances and beautiful adaptations [acquired through natural selection] transcend in an incomparable degree [those] which the most fertile imagination of the most imaginative man could suggest with unlimited time at his disposal." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982214003881 View in LinkedIn

WEB DESIGN PLASTICITY. "Decreasing temperature from 24° to 12°C caused the capture spiral to have fewer and wider spaced meshes, which did not change overall capture area but reduced the length of capture-spiral threads laid down. Subsequent increase of temperature to 24°C restored the number of meshes laid down, but the wider mesh was retained, causing the capture area to be increased over initial control values." https://lnkd.in/dWUF7eR View in LinkedIn

GENETIC ALGORITH MODELING. "Individual spiders are described firstly by their genotype (the syntax, represented by the genetic coding of the parameters in the chromosome) and secondly by their phenotype (the semantics, represented by the interpretation of the genetic information)." Nice analytics of spider web design. https://lnkd.in/dfsDEVZ View in LinkedIn

"THE SPIRAL LOOPS are built from the inside out and are therefore analogues of the auxiliary spiral in Araneus diadematus." https://lnkd.in/dfsDEVZ View in LinkedIn

STEPWISE CONSTRUCTION. "After exploration of the web site an orb web spider constructs (1) frame and initial radii, (2) all other radii and the hub, (3) the auxiliary spiral (from the inside out) and finally (4) the capture spiral (from the outside in)." https://lnkd.in/dfsDEVZ View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this meditation on spider web geometry. That such a tiny creature can have so sophisticated a grasp of geometric realities in an improvised and highly dynamic environment that constantly changes is remarkable. Add to that the well-known but beyond the Bell curve physical properties of spider silk, brewed at ambient temperatures in this small beast, after millennia of design experiments. Observe, connect in the mind, and be humbled by the merest of nature's designs. View in LinkedIn

"THE SENSORY MODALITIES used for orb web-construction are limited. It appears that vision is not used and tension only marginally. Some form of orientation memory stack is likely and navigation by path integration not unlikely." https://lnkd.in/dfsDEVZ View in LinkedIn

BIG AND STRONG. "The spider webs made by Caerostris darwini, found in Madagascar, can extend up to tens of meters, are made to catch much larger prey and withstand frequent rain and typhoon winds and they are usually repaired for several days before replacement." https://lnkd.in/d5Wdths View in LinkedIn