Mike Tutcher, age 9, of Venice, Fla., for his question:

WHY DOESN'T A SPIDER GET CAUGHT IN HER WEB?

The clever spider wakes up early and builds her web before breakfast. She spins her silken threads from tiny faucets at the end of her body. The stuff comes out in liquid form and dries in the air. First she strings strong lines from side to side, crossing them in the center. Then she goes to the center and starts to weave the cross threads around and around in a growing spiral.

As she weaves the spiral, now and then she stops to add a drop of sticky goo and twang a thread with one of her back feet. Only these cross threads are sticky. When the web is done, she hides in a corner. Soon a fly zooms into the web. He touches the sticky threads, and the more he struggles the more he gets stuck in a tangle. Then the spider trips forth on her eight legs. Naturally she steps only on the non sticky threads‑‑which is why she never gets caught in her own web.