Video: MIT researchers translate a spider’s web into music

It is a shrill and bewitching sound. It is seen as the prelude to a scene that will mark a before and after in a thriller. This is how spider webs sound. Or at least that’s how “the” spider’s web sounds, which has been captured and transformed into a melody, thanks to the magic of algorithms.

In 2018, a group of scientists at MIT translated the three-dimensional structure of a spider’s web into music. They worked with Argentinian artist Tomás Saraceno to create an interactive musical instrument, titled Spider web. Now this technique has been perfected and based on this previous work, they have continued to advance in this project and have generated a virtual reality layer that allows not only to hear the process but also to interact with it.

This research will help them to better understand the three-dimensional architecture of the web, as well as the vibratory language of these animals. The project was unveiled a few days ago and lead researcher Markus J. Buehler posted videos on his YouTube channel where the produced melody as well as the design can be heard in virtual reality.

The work that gave rise to this new version was developed by Buehler, Saraceno, Ian Hattwick, Isabelle Su, Christine Southworth and Evan Ziporyn. It was first created at the exhibition OnAir de Saraceno, in Paris in 2018.

Last year Saraceno presented the book How to Catch the Universe in a Spider’s Web, which he did in collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art in Buenos Aires, based on the sample that bears the same name and that was on display there.

How the project was generated

The team housed a Cyrtophora citricola-type spider in a rectangular enclosure and waited for it to fill the space with a three-dimensional spider web. They then used a laser to illuminate and create high definition images of 2D cuts of the wires.

They then designed an algorithm that generated the 3D architecture of the Web from this 2D data. Different sound frequencies were assigned to each of the threads and in this way, notes were made based on patterns that emerged from the structure of the web.

Basically, Buehler and his collaborators developed a mathematical model which they used to translate the structure of the spider’s web into a noticeable sound.

They also scanned the web as it spun, and the tune of this whole process was captured. So there is also a step-by-step thread recording.

Through this process, the dance of the spiders could be heard. The novelty now is that a virtual reality product has been created that allows us to reproduce fragments of the sound produced by cobwebs.

This virtual reality environment allows researchers to better understand what happens when a fragment of the wires is disturbed, because when they are virtually stretched, the tone undergoes a change. Therefore, the system contributes to a better understanding of these types of structures as well as what they represent.

“If we expose them to certain patterns of rhythms or vibrations, can we affect what they are doing and can we begin to communicate with them?” These are really exciting ideas, ”said Buehler, in an article published by Scientific alert.

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