Spider Web inspires MIT research on its strength and flexibility

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From Science Day 

The spider web has inspired research by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Poletecnico de Torino which was published in  February 2012 issue of Nature.  It is not so much of the strength of the spider web, but its ability to withstand hurricane winds, and localize the damage.  The whole web does not break even if it traps an insect.

There seems to be several filaments involved in the integrity of the web.  The spider web.has been subjected to computer modeling to study how it reacts to energy, stress and failure.  This could inspire engineers in designing buildings and structures that are flexible and where damages could be contained especially in earthquake or hurricane situation.

The cabled design to support glass atria of Changi airport in Singapore uses  web design to make it bomb and typhoon resisitant