Watch: Scientists figure out sticky trick to how spider silk stays taut

Most fibres either sag or buckle when compressed - spider silk remains taut no matter how far it is stretched or compressed.

Scientists now think they've figured out how spiders pull this off.

Science Magazine reports that according to the researchers' findings published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the trick is in the spider's capture thread, the thread that forms the sticky spirals of a spider's web.

It behaves like an elastic solid when stretched, but when compressed, drops of liquid silk cause it to spool.

This insight led scientists to develop a synthetic fibre that behaves the same way - developing a 'liquid wire' which might one day be used by robots or artificial muscles.