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(Describer) Titles: KQED. PBS.

(Describer) Title: Deep Look. A spider moves some of its eight legs quickly. In its web, it drops down, leaving silk.

(narrator) Some of nature's most mesmerizing works of art might just be hanging in your backyard. The artist is an orb weaver spider. Though it has eight eyes, it's practically blind.

(Describer) Its web has concentric circles.

And its sublime compositions aren't just deadly traps.

(Describer) It goes to a small insect and wraps it.

They're an extension of the spider's senses. Spider creations come in many forms-- tangles, funnels, sheets, even mixed media.

(Describer) Silk lines a tunnel.

Intricate spirals are an orb weaver's signature design. There are thousands of orb weaver species, each with its own style, like this trashline orb weaver. It hides out in its string of past victims.

(Describer) They form a line across the web.

Spiders are born web spinners.

(Describer) Tiny ones work.

See these spiderlings testing out their skills?

(Describer) One slowly turns a captive insect.

To weave these webs, the spider secretes silk through organs called spinnerets.

(Describer) Lines point them out at the back.

Spider silk is made mostly of proteins. The spider uses different types of silk for different purposes.

(Describer) In fast-motion, a spider starts building a web between twigs.

To start, the orb weaver lays down a scaffolding using a smooth structural silk.

(Describer) ...like wheel spokes.

Then, the spider switches to a sticky silk for its main motif, circle after circle of tenacious thread.

(Describer) It starts from the outside and goes around in a spiral toward the center, where it finishes.

It's eyes only see light, dark, and a little movement, so the orb weaver builds by feel. The spider constructs its ephemeral home in just a few hours or less. The delicate-looking web is actually five times stronger than steel, If it were scaled up to human size, you couldn't just sweep it away.

(Describer) It's shown working at 15 times normal speed.

If the spider's hungry, it can tighten the strands of its web, making it easier to sense prey. When a fly crashes into the sticky web, its impact reverberates.

(Describer) A small fly gets caught.

Since the spider can't see well, it feels nearby spokes to zero in on its meal.

(Describer) It finds it.

It uses sharp fangs to inject a paralyzing venom. Then the orb weaver basically shrink wraps its prey using a wide sheet of silk.

(Describer) It slowly wraps the fly.

When it feeds, it repeatedly bites the wrapped up prey, liquefying it so it can suck up all the juices.

(Describer) Its mouth parts poke into the package it's created. Another time, small insects fly. One hits a web and a spider the same size darts right to it.

Once a meal is all wrapped up, the spider can store it in its pantry for later. It has no problem finding it again. Only a handful of invertebrates can remember where things are like this.

(Describer) A spider returns to one of its packages.

So how does an orb weaver do all these things with a brain the size of a poppy seed?

(Describer) Wrapped prey tries to move.

Some scientists think a spider's mind radiates out through the strands of its web, beyond the limits of its body. It seems this exquisite creation is not just a home, a sophisticated net, or a place to keep food. It's a map of the spider's memories.

(Describer) A web stretches over a pond.

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(Describer) As a spider finds and wraps up prey stuck in its web, titles: Producer/Writer: Mike Seely Cinematographer: Josh Cassidy, Mike Seely Narrator/Writer: Laura Klivans (klive-ens) Original Music: Seth Samuel A KQED Production Copyright 2020 KQED Inc. Accessibility provided by the US Department of Education.