(과학) 거미는 거미줄의 진동을 통해 먹이감을 파악해 잡아먹는다

출처: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35849341

Giant web probes spider's sense of vibration 거미는 거미줄의 진동을 통해 먹이감을 파악해 잡아먹는다

By Jonathan WebbScience reporter, BBC News, Baltimore

• 19 March 2016
 
• From the sectionScience & Environment

Image copyrightRoss Hatton

Image captionAn artificial "spider" records vibrations from the threads 인공 "거미"가 (거미)줄의 진동을 기록한다

Inside a lab in Oregon, US, a two-metre spider web made of aluminium and rope is beginning to unlock how orb weavers pinpoint struggling prey. 알루미늄과 로프로 만들어진 2미터 길이의 거미줄은 거미들이 어떻게 발버둥치는 먹이감을 정조준하는지 보여주고 있다. (orb: 둥근 그물) (weaver: 직물 짜는 사람) (orb weavers: 둥글게 거미줄을 치는 거미들) (pinpoint: 정조준하다)

When an unlucky insect lands in a web, it is vibrations that bring the spider scuttling from the centre of its trap. (scuttle: 종종걸음 치다, 허둥지둥 가다)

How spiders interpret those signals is a mystery - so physicists have built this replica to figure it out. 거미들이 그런 신호들을 어떻게 해석하는가는 미스테리이다. 그래서 물리학자들이 이 미스테리를 밝혀내기 위해 이런 모형을 만들었다.

They unveiled the design and their first results on Friday at a meeting of the American Physical Society (APS). 연구 참여 물리학자들은 지난 금요일 미국 물리학회 회의 때 이런 계획과 그 첫 결과들을 발표했다.

"We wove the web using two different kinds of rope, the same way as spiders use two different formulations of silk," said Ross Hatton from Oregon State University.

The radial strands that fan out from the centre are made of stiff, nylon parachute cable, while elastic bungee cords make up the "spiral strands". 중심에서 바깥쪽으로 뻗어가는 방사성 인조 거미줄은 신축성이 없는 나일론 낙하산 줄로 만들었고, 이 방사성 인조 거미줄에 나선형으로 연결된 인조 거미줄은 신축성이 있는 번지점프용 고무줄로 만들었다. (radial: 방사상의, strand: 줄) (fan out from~: ~에서 펼쳐지다) (be made of ~: ~로 만들어지다) (stiff: 신축성이 없는) (elastic: 탄력 위해 고무로 만들어진) (bungee cord: 고무줄로 만들어진) (spiral: 나선형의)

The whole thing sits in an octagonal aluminium frame, with a speaker strapped to one corner to deliver some hefty vibrations. (octagonal: 8각형의. octagon: 8각형) (strap to~: ~에 묶다, 부착하다) (heft: 강한)

Image copyrightRoss Hatton

Image captionA subwoofer hits the web with specific frequencies

"It's a big subwoofer, so we can give a fairly good push to the web - there's quite a bit of force in it," Dr Hatton told BBC News, at the APS March Meeting in Baltimore. (subwoofer: 서브우퍼 즉 스피커의 초저음부)

At the centre of the web sits an artificial spider - a simple eight-legged frame, which doesn't move but detects vibrations in the threads, just like a real spider. (eight-legged: 8가닥의)

"We went in with the basic hypothesis that if you shake one of the radial lines, then the spider will feel that shaking a lot, and the other lines less," Dr Hatton explained. "And so you could say, well I just go to wherever the line is shaking the most." (hypothesis: 가설)

But this was not what he and his colleagues - including biologist Damian Elias at the University of California Berkeley - discovered.

Image copyrightRoss Hatton

Image captionThe team has a selection of "spiders" to use for different experiments

In fact, the outsized orb web revealed surprisingly complex vibration patterns, with quiet spots in certain parts of the web where the shaking completely disappears. (outsized: 보통 것보다 큰)

"At different frequencies, different strands - so different feet - stop vibrating," Dr Hatton said. (frequency: 빈도, 진동수, 주파수, 여기선 진동수임.)

Those different frequencies might reflect, for example, different types of trapped insect.

"So at the very least, the spider is going to need to know how the frequency couples with the web structure... in order to find which is the foot that shouldn't be shaking - so it doesn't end up going off at 90 degrees to where it should be going." 먹이감은 흔들리지 않아야 한다. 안 그러면 거미가 90도 다른 방향으로 움직이니까. (at the very least: 적어도) (couple with~: ~와 연결짓다, 매치시키다)