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A team of researchers working in Italy has found that simply spraying a spider with a carbon nanotube solution can cause the spider to spin stronger webs. In their paper they have uploaded to the preprint server arXiv, the team describes their experiments with both graphene and nanotube solutions and what happened when they sprayed it on ordinary spiders. As the researchers note, while silk production using silkworms has been quite successful, doing the same to harvest silk from spiders has not, (because of their territorial traits, the complex nature of the silk they make and their cannibalistic tendencies) which...

Actor Andrew Garfield may be booted from the Spider-Man movie series, according to the latest revelation from hacked emails at Sony. The correspondence reveals that Sony - which was reportedly already not happy with Garfield - might give up the franchise to comic book giant Marvel. It is believed that Marvel would prefer to start the series from scratch, putting Garfield's role as Peter Parker, which he has played in two movies, in jeopardy.

Piotr Naskrecki was taking a nighttime walk in a rainforest in Guyana, when he heard rustling as if something were creeping underfoot. When he turned on his flashlight, he expected to see a small mammal, such as a possum or a rat. "When I turned on the light, I couldn't quite understand what I was seeing," said Naskrecki, an entomologist and photographer at Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology. A moment later, he realized he was looking not at a brown, furry mammal, but an enormous, puppy-size spider... (click image to enlarge)

Spiders have claimed ownership of one home in Missouri and turned it into a real-life house of horrors. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that in 2007, Brian and Susan Trost bought a 2,400-square-foot ranch home in Weldon Spring. The home, built in 1988, has golf course views and was purchased for $450,000. Shortly after taking ownership of the home, the Trosts began to see the spiders. Everywhere. In civil trial testimony, Susan claims to have seen live spiders on light fixtures, window blinds, air registers, behind loose wallpaper in the kitchen and in the basement’s bar area. Spider skeletons fell...

Being chased by a giant mutant spider is enough to send most people into a fit of terror. So it's not surprising that this pooch caused quite a stir when she was let loose disguised as a terrifying eight-legged beast. Chica the DogSpider is the work of Polish prankster Sylwester Wardega, who dressed up his pooch in the fur-covered costume before releasing her on an unsuspecting public. A hilarious video, which has had more than three million views on YouTube in just one day, shows the hairy creature lurking behind doorways, ready to pounce on its victims.

Man sets house afire trying to kill spider with lighter, spray paint SEATTLE -- Fire officials say a West Seattle man was using a lighter and a can of spray paint to kill a spider in his laundry room when the house went up in flames. Fire crews were called to a home in the 10200 block of 34th Avenue SW just before 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Firefighters originally battled the blaze from a distance after learning there may be ammunition inside. Crews were eventually able to extinguish the fire, but not before it did significant damage to the structure....

A WOMAN has been arrested after burning down part of her home in an attempt to kill a spider, police say.Ginny Griffith, 34, used a cigarette lighter to set fire to some towels after seeing the arachnid in her bathroom. But as the blaze spread, five fire trucks were called to her apartment in Hutchinson, Kansas, US at around 1.36am (local time) on Friday morning to put out the inferno. Firefighters were able to bring the fire under control within a matter of minutes. Deputy Fire Chief Doug Hanen said in a statement that firefighters had found smoke coming from...

Archaeologists have discovered a panel containing the only known example of spider rock art in Egypt and, it appears, the entire Old World. The rock panel, now in two pieces, was found on the west wall of a shallow sandstone wadi, or valley, in the Kharga Oasis, located in Egypt's western desert about 108 miles (175 kilometers) west of Luxor. Facing east, and illuminated by the morning sun, the panel is a "very unusual" find, said Egyptologist Salima Ikram, a professor at the American University in Cairo who co-directs the North Kharga Oasis Survey Project. The identification of the creatures...

In a world where even the smallest spiders can provoke a fearful shriek, Theraphosa blondi takes scare tactics to a whole new level. This South American tarantula holds the record for world's largest spider. Other spiders might have longer legs, but T. blondi's large body means its overall weight can reach 6 ounces (170 grams).Commonly known as the Goliath birdeater due to an 18th-century engraving showing another member of the tarantula family eating a hummingbird--which gave the entire Theraphosa genus the nickname of "bird eaters"--the gargantuan spider is not quite as menacing as it might seem.

FULL TITLE: How FOUR cops rushed to kill spider in wheelchair-bound teen's home after she called 911 fearing it could have killed her Police in Portland, Oregon, received an unusual call earlier this month when a teenager phoned requesting assistance to deal with a ‘massive’ spider. The caller, Makenna Sewell, wasn’t a prankster or someone with an extreme phobia of spiders, but instead suffers from muscular dystrophy and is wheelchair-bound. She believed the spider was a brown recluse, a species with venom so toxic that it could have been deadly for her compromised immune system. Scroll down for video Sewell...

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is taking heat from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals after he killing a spider on his desk in front of a class of fourth graders. In a video titled, 'Governor Christie Saves School Children From Spider,' his fearless spider-swatting skills are witnessed to cheers from his daughter, Bridget’s classmates after it caused a commotion on his desk. He tells the children after delivering it a quick slap by his palm that it's just one of the many perks of being governor. 'Any bugs on your desk you're allowed to kill them...

There's only one place in the world to escape bat-catching spiders: Antarctica. These arachnids ensnare and pounce on bats everywhere else in the world, researchers say. Bats rank among the most successful groups of mammals, with the more than 1,200 species of bats comprising about one-fifth of all mammal species. Other than owls, hawks and snakes, bats have few natural enemies. Still, invertebrates — creatures without backbones — have been known to dine on bats. For instance, giant centipedes in a cave in Venezuela were seen killing and eating bats, and the arachnids known as whip spiders were spotted feeding...

A Fossilized Scene of a Spider Attacking a Wasp, Preserved for 110 Million Years Paleontologists have discovered beautifully preserved species trapped in amber before — but this one is extraordinary. It features a parasitic wasp that has become ensnared in a spider's web, with the owner bearing down on it for an attack. But just before the spider was about to have its meal, a drop of resin flowed down from above, freezing the moment in time. Researchers date the scene to the Early Cretaceous between 97 to 110 million years ago in the Hukawng Valley of Myanmar — a...

It's the eight-legged discovery of the millennium! An endangered species of spider not seen in more than three decades unexpectedly appeared in Northwest San Antonio two weeks ago. Biologists and science buffs, rejoice. There's just one downside if you're an area commuter: The spider, no bigger than a dime, showed up in the middle of a $15.1 million highway underpass project on Texas 151 at Loop 1604. And in this particular case of nature vs. man-made road, the arachnid wins. The highway project is on hold indefinitely. SNIP . . . No other spiders have been spotted in the hole...

A rare spider has caused a San Antonio highway construction project to be shut down - because of the Endangered Species Act. People on our side of the fence are properly upset. Here are a couple threads: Blind Spider Discovery Halts Development Of Texas HighwayRare spider found in Texas shuts down $15M million construction project Needless to say, the neo-Marxist freaks on the other side are overjoyed. I found an article at The Huffington Post. I scrolled down to read the comments and almost threw up: Wow.....I cannot believe that they are doing that.......It is great........ Oh, man, I can...

What has eight legs, is no bigger than a dime, and can stop a $15-million-dollar highway construction project? Why of course, it’s a Braken Bat Cave Meshweaver! It seems the San Antonio, Texas underpass project was halted when the rare spider was discovered after rain exposed a 6-foot-deep natural hole in a highway median at Texas 151 and Loop 1604. The endangered arachnid, which had not been seen in more than 30 years, gave biologists a chance to rejoice for the chance discovery.While the find is a significant one for science, area commuters will likely not be pleased as the...

Scarlet Spider swings into Houston just in time to tangle with supervillains lurking in the shadows of the Texas metropolis. Consider yourself lucky if you have never seen the evil Salamander, who can generate and control fire. Scarlet Spider is the star of a new Marvel Universe comic-book series that launches Wednesday with events at 8th Dimension Comics & Games and Alamo Draft House at West Oaks Mall. Scarlet Spider/Kaine, a clone of Spider-Man, has a villainous past and is on the run to Mexico when life happens, said writer Christopher Yost, and Kaine stops in Houston. Yost of Los...

Brief wildlife documentary featuring the wood spider.

This is bullet-proof human skin - made from spider silk and goat milk. Yes, really. Jalila Essaidi is testing the limits of human endurance, and it starts by having to milk spider-goats. Spider goats are otherwise innocent-looking goats that have been genetically engineered to produce milk packed with the protein made in spider's silk. (There is no definitive proof that this also gives them a propensity to skitter up walls or hide out in your sock drawer, but I think it does.) Once the goats are milked, Essaidi spins the protein into fiber that is ten times stronger than steel,...

BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. -- A man from Erie, Colo. died after getting bitten by a black widow spider. Health experts say it's a rare for someone to die from black widow bites. Jeff Seale, 40, noticed 19 bites on his foot two weeks before he died. His sister says he worked at a horse stable, and she wonders if that's where her brother might've encountered the spider...