Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Biomaterials

Intelligent glue

Spiders' webs are coated with microscopic droplets of glue, but the properties of this adhesive were unclear. It has now been found that the glue's stretchiness underpins its role in catching flies.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Extensible and adhesive.

a: P. KAY/PHOTOLIBRARY.COM b: M. LUSTBADER/SPLI

References

  1. Sahni, V., Blackledge, T. A. & Dhinojwala, A. Nature Commun. 1, doi:10.1038/ncomms1019 (2010).

  2. Waite, J. H. & Tanzer, M. L. Science 212, 1038–1040 (1981).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Lee, H. et al. Science 318, 426–430 (2007).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Waite, J. H., Vaccaro, E., Sun, C. & Lucas, J. M. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 357, 143–153 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Vollrath, F. et al. Nature 345, 526–527 (1990).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Choresh, O., Bayarmagnai, B. & Lewis R. V. Biomacromolecules 10, 2852–2856 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Tsang, P. H., Li, G., Brun, Y. V., Freund, L. B. & Tang, J. X. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 103, 5764–5768 (2006).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lee, H. Intelligent glue. Nature 465, 298–299 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/465298a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/465298a

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing