Death from disorder: scientists uncover secret of the velvet worm’s quick-setting slime

In the Spider-Man comics, the titular hero ensnares criminals by shooting lines of sticky liquid from devices in his hands, which quickly harden into solid threads. In the real world, a group of animals called velvet worms use a similar technique for a more sinister purpose – to trap their prey. Unlike Spider-Man’s synthetic webs, a velvet worm’s glue is entirely biological and an Australian scientist Victoria Haritos has uncovered its secret. This is an animal that uses disorder as a weapon. Velvet worms, or onychophorans, are some of the oldest animals to walk the Earth. They were ambling around 500 million years ago, when most life was still confined to the oceans. They look like caterpillars but they belong to a completely separate group from the insects that they hunt. Their weapons are a pair of limbs on either side of their heads that have been converted into slime ...