Fashion and history enthusiast Nicholas Godley has teamed up with British art and textiles expert Simon Peers to create a seven-year project to produce a golden spider silk cape. The project took place in Madagascar and involved milking 1.2 million spiders, a feat that required a team of 80 people. The spiders used in the project were Golden Orb spiders, which are the only … [Read more...] about Arachnophobe Milks 1.2 Million Spiders Over Seven Years to Create Golden Silk Cape
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Spiders Walk On Water
Surface tension is the tendency for the surface of a liquid to act like a stretched membrane or piece of rubber. The cohesive forces work to bring the molecules on the interior of the liquid to the exterior surface. If you want to get scientific, surface tension is numerically equal to the force acting at right angles to a line of unit length that is lying on the surface and is … [Read more...] about Spiders Walk On Water
Spiders Appear to Have REM-like Sleep and May Even Dream
Jumping spiders have REM-like twitches when they sleep, suggesting dreams may be much more widespread in the animal kingdom than previously realized. Daniela Rößler, a behavioral ecologist, collected local jumping spiders and housed them in clear plastic cages on her windowsill, intending to evaluate their reactions to 3-D-printed predatory spider models. When she returned … [Read more...] about Spiders Appear to Have REM-like Sleep and May Even Dream
Lady Overcomes Her Fear of Spiders by Caring for a Cute Asiatic Wall Jumping Spider
Emily Hess talked about how she overcome her arachnophobia by caring for Gretel, an Asiatic wall jumping spider. Hess noted that it took some time for her and Gretel to warm up to one other, but once they did, they created a very love bond. Spiders have always been a source of terror for me. I knew I was the terrifying creature, and she didn't want to touch me either… We … [Read more...] about Lady Overcomes Her Fear of Spiders by Caring for a Cute Asiatic Wall Jumping Spider