Posted on 12/12/2020 9:58:26 AM PST by BenLurkin
Scientists have been sending spiders into space to see how the spider’s web-making ability changes in the microgravity aboard the ISS. As simple as it sounds on the surface to put a spider in space and see how microgravity affects web making, it was challenging to achieve.
On Earth, spiderwebs are asymmetrical, and the center is displaced towards the upper edge. When resting, spiders sit head down because it allows them to move towards freshly caught prey in the direction of gravity. The question was, what would spiders do in the absence of gravity.
What was discovered about how spiders orient themselves in zero gravity was a surprise. Scientists say they wouldn’t have guessed light would’ve played a role in orienting the spiders in space. The lamps inside the cases were attached to the top of the chamber and not on various sides, a coincidence that allowed scientists to discover that light impacts the symmetry of webs in zero gravity.
(Excerpt) Read more at slashgear.com ...
[[The question was, what would spiders do in the absence of gravity.]]
What every spider does no matter the circumstances, they will continue to spidilate
Spider Spider in the sky,
Why’d you doo doo on My eye?
Spider Spider in the air,
Why’d you doo doo on my hair?
Spider Spider up in space,
Why’d you doo doo on my face?
Yes Yes, i know, I’m a poet and don’t even know that i am
a poet that doesn’t know it?
We spiders launched into space
Learned to deal with the place.
Don’t need gravity in our flight
Because we have all seen the light.
Hey that rhymes =)
Stop, smile for a moment, then continue the fight!
Is that “Boris The Spider in Space?”
Would be interesting to see the fly trying to fly without a gravity component.
“Would be interesting to see the fly trying to fly without a gravity component.”
Wonder if flies can cuss...
What I want to know is what the spiders are hoping to catch in outer space!
#AngryRedPlanet
A limerick! Beautiful.
;)
Yup!
A spider went up in a rocket
They wanted a web just to mock it
It’ll spin like it’s drunk
On an astronaut’s bunk
With no arachnophobic to stop it
Beautiful!!
;)
Sudden gravity loss for the spider
Made his downside look more like up-sider
While spinning his web
He was spinning instead
And the lengthwise part got even wider
A test that should have aborted
When a spider from earth was exported
To deep outer space
To try weaving with grace
But results were a web well-distorted
Spider, spider, in the Space
Whose atmosphere you gonna displace?
Did you know your web could fly
Up above the clear blue sky?
Up and down you spin your web
Not without a sense of dread
For when you land on an earthy spot
Will your life end with a misplaced swat?
Little Miss Muffet
Sat on her tuffet
Eating her curds and whey
Along came a spider
He sat down beside her
And said, “Yo, what’s in the bowl, b...h? OH!”
Worthy of Andrew Dice Clay.
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