On Monday we talked about insects, and how they gather food. Today I'd like to talk about the common garden spider and how it captures its prey with the round net-like structure it first produced almost 200 million years ago. I mean, of course a spider web. What's interesting is why such a delicate structure isn't ripped apart when a fast-flying insect crashes into it, and compared with the spider, these insects can be huge and really heavy. In fact capturing a large insect in a spider web could be compared to capture an airplane in a fishing net. So, how can the web offset such a shock without breaking? Is it just because the silk like thread is made of so strong?