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Scientists have screwed with spiders quite a bit ti see how various influences (weights; spinning in a centrifuge; LSD) affect their web creation. Newly published research finally provides some reliable results on how zero gravity affects orb spiders' web building.
The article linked here also includes a summary of past experiments and how they went awry. I recommend it for a chuckle ...
FULL STORY (With Photos):
https://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-what-happens-to-spiders-webs-in-space
The article linked here also includes a summary of past experiments and how they went awry. I recommend it for a chuckle ...
Spiders in Space Reveal The Weird Things That Happen to Webs in Microgravity
Now, a study of orb spiders (Trichonephila clavipes) in space has revealed that these smart arachnids can orientate themselves with light when there is no gravity to tell them which way is 'up'.
Scientists have conducted myriad spider gravity experiments over the decades. Spiders have had small weights attached to them, been put in a centrifuge, been made to build their webs horizontally (which the spiders were reportedly very unimpressed about), and continuously rotated as they tried to build a web.
"These observations and experiments strongly suggest that gravity is an important factor during web building, but they cannot answer the question, whether spiders can build webs in zero gravity and, if yes, how the zero-gravity environment will affect the completed web," a team of researchers from Switzerland and the United States writes in a new paper. ...
FULL STORY (With Photos):
https://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-what-happens-to-spiders-webs-in-space