...Cecilia Boutry; Todd Alan Blackledge SUMMARY Spider silk is a promising biomaterial with impressive performance. However, some spider silks also ‘supercontract’ when exposed to water, shrinking by up to ∼50% in length. Supercontraction may provide a critical mechanism to tailor silk properties...

... ). Fibre science: Supercontraction stress in wet spider dragline. Nature 416 , 37 . Blackledge, T. A., Cardullo, R. A. and Hayashi, C. Y. ( 2005a ). Polarized light microscopy, variability in spider silk diameters, and the mechanical characterization of spider silk. Invertebr. Biol. 124 , 165...

... understanding how silk reacts to different environmental conditions. For instance, spider dragline silk`supercontracts' in high humidity. During supercontraction, unrestrained dragline silk contracts up to 50% of its original length and restrained fibers generate substantial stress. Here we characterize...

... range of tongue extension lengths, made possible by the presence of supercontracting muscle in the tongue retractors. Investigation of the length/tension properties and ultrastructure of the tongue retractor in a closely related agamid lizard ( Pogona vitticeps ) indicates that the ability to generate...