Basics 2 Breakthroughs: Studying the Hydraulic Mechanism in Jumping Spiders

What does the jumping spider have in common with an excavator? Hydraulics! UC Berkeley graduate student Sophie Hanson uses the Advanced Light Source (ALS) to get detailed 3D images of the microscopic structures inside jumping spider legs. These tiny creatures use a hydraulic system not unlike the hydraulics of human-made machinery to generate power for their massive (on a spider scale) leaps! Follow along as she gets an in-depth look into jumping spider hydraulics using brilliant x-rays at the ALS at Berkeley Lab. Hanson is just one of 1600 researchers who make use of the ALS’s 40 beamlines each year to address a range of research questions, from creatures to quantum.