From a young age, I’ve been captivated by nature, especially spiders. One of my greatest joys was reading the books of Stephen Jay Gould, the renowned naturalist. His writings not only deepened my love for the natural world but also inspired me to pursue a career in research focused on spiders.
After years of dedication, I’m thrilled to announce that my latest work has been published. Our research uncovered something remarkable: spiders, long regarded for producing one of the toughest biological materials—silk—cut through it in a fraction of a second using mechanics, not chemistry. Incredibly, they developed the first serrated knife hundreds of millions of years ago! Pretty fascinating, right?
But what excites me even more is that in my paper, published in the prestigious journal Advanced Science, I had the immense honor of citing one of Stephen Jay Gould’s major works. For me, this is one of the greatest moments of my career—a full-circle moment, connecting my research to the work of a scientist who sparked my journey.
Of course, I wasn’t alone in this achievement. Diego Misseroni played a pivotal role in shaping the paper, especially by strengthening the experimental sections and contributing his vast expertise in mechanics with key simulations. I’m grateful he joined me on this adventure!
Filippo, Nicolò, and Nicola were also instrumental in refining the work, and together we hope this study will finally settle the debate over whether spiders cut their silk through mechanical or chemical means.
You can check the paper here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/advs.202406079
Follow the news on my project EPASS: https://gabriele-greco.com/epass/
