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Brief Communications
Nature 440, 621 (30 March 2006) | doi:10.1038/440621a; Received 17 October 2005; Accepted 20 February 2006; Published online 29 March 2006
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Biopolymers: Shape memory in spider draglines
Olivier Emile1, Albert Le Floch1 & Fritz Vollrath2
Abstract
The torsional properties of spider silk add to its list of remarkable physical credentials.
Abstract
The ductility and strength of spider draglines means that they outperform the best synthetic fibres1, 2, 3, 4, 5, but surprisingly little is known about the torsional properties of this remarkable filament. Unlike a mountain climber swinging from a rope, a spider suspended from its silk thread hardly ever twists. Here we show that a spider dragline has a torsional shape 'memory' in that it can reversibly and totally recover its initial form without any external stimulus; its observed relaxation dynamics indicate that these biological molecules have successively different torsional constants.
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