Not just catching prey: spiders have been found to play music on webs (listen, video)

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have created a virtual reality (VR) experience that allows people to listen to "spider music."

This study, published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, can help to better understand how spiders communicate with each other and how they build their webs.

Spiders use vibrations to sense the world around them. Each thread of the web has its unique tone, which the spider can sense with its hairs and crevices.

The MIT team has developed an algorithm that turns the three-dimensional structure of the web into music. The algorithm assigns different sound frequencies to different threads of the web.

The team has also created a VR environment where users can enter and play the web strands themselves.

This allows users to experience the web in a new way and understand how spiders use it to communicate and build.

"The virtual reality environment is really intriguing because your ears pick up structural features that you can see but not immediately recognize," said engineer Marcus Buehler of MIT.

The MIT team has also developed an algorithm for determining the types of web vibrations. The algorithm can recognize whether prey is trapped, a web is being built, or another spider has arrived.

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