Silken sound

A new kind of violin string has been crafted from the silk that spiders produce for their webs. Shigeyoshi Osaki, a researcher at Nara Medical University in Japan, made the strings by weaving thousands of strands of the “dragline silk” from which spiders dangle.

“The violin strings are a novel practical use for spider silk as a kind of high value-added product, and offer a distinctive type of timbre for both violin players and music lovers worldwide,” Osaki writes.

More, including a sample of music made on spider-web strings, from BBC News:

news:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17232058