* Astronomy

Along Came a Spider--Spinning Silk For Cross-Hairs
Spider silk has been used for centuries by various civilizations and for a variety of purposes because of its strength and other remarkable characteristics. In more recent times new uses for it have been found in the support of science. Spiders use their silk for various purposes. Some male spiders deposit sperm onto a web and offer it to a female's genital opening; eggs are wrapped in a cocoon and offspring are held by a silk lifeline; cobwebs of spider silk serve to snare a spider's food. Fossil evidence found in rocks in the New York area reveals that spiders already were actively spinning silk some 380 million years ago.

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