Results of NASA experiments with Spiders and Drugs

missblackwidow.com ^ | Steve Connor

[Destro]

Results of experiments with Spiders and Drugs

Scientists at the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have turned their attention from the mysteries of the cosmos to a more esoteric area of research: what happens when you get a spider stoned.

Their experiments have shown that common house spiders spin their webs in different ways according to the psychotropic drug they have been given. Spiders on marijuana made a reasonable stab at spinning webs but appeared to lose concentration about half-way through. Those on Benzedrine - "speed" - spin their webs "with great gusto, but apparently without much planning leaving large holes", according to New Scientist magazine.

Caffeine, one of the most common drugs consumed by Britons in soft drinks, tea and coffee, makes spiders incapable of spinning anything better than a few threads strung together at random. On chloral hydrat, an ingredient of sleeping pills, spiders "drop off before they even get started".

Nasa scientists believe the research demonstrates that web-spinning spiders can be used to test drugs because the more toxic the chemical, the more deformed was the web.

The scientists believe their previous work on the goemetry of crystals will help them to devise computer programs that can analyse web-building objectively in order to predict the toxicity of new medicines. "It appears that one of the most telling measures of toxicity is a decrease, in comparison with a normal web, of the numbers of completed sides [of a web]; the greater the toxicity, the more sides the spider fails to complete", the scientists say.

Paul Hillard, spider specialist at the Natural History Museum in London, said researchers first discovered the effects of psychotropic drugs on spiders during experiments at the end of 1960s. The researchers fed caffeine to spiders in hope of making them spin webs in the late evening rather than the early dawn. The result was eccentric webs rather than earlier spinning, he said.

Article and research by Steve Connor

Results of NASA experiments with Spiders and Drugs

The normal web of a spider.

Web created while exposed to Mescaline/Peyote.

Web created exposed to LSD.

Web created while exposed to Marijuana.

Web created exposed to Caffeine.

Web created exposed to Benzedrine/Speed.

Web created exposed to Chloral Hydrat. An ingredient found in sleeping pills.

[Destro]

Dude, you sound paranoid. Are you smoking lots of pot?

[Monty22]

I assume it's just a humor post.

That's fine, but at least be honest.

[Action-America]

This is not Front Page News. The study that the above article refers to is very old (1995).

The results of the very real NASA study was first published in "NASA Tech Briefs", April 1995 Issue, in an article titled, "Using Spider-Web Patterns to Determine Toxicity", by Drs. R. J. Cronise, and R. A. Relwani. The New Yorker Magazine had a lot of fun with it at the time, claiming such things as, the results of the study had identified caffeine as the "human error drug".

I remember reading about it and thinking, "This is what our taxes are going for?!!!"

I'm normally a big supporter of NASA, but this one was way off base.

 

[Destro]

Thanks, AA.

Ok so I goofed and placed it on the front page. I had a can of coke that screwed up my thinking :)

Satisfied, Prime Choice?

[Destro]

Let me see did I click the humor button? Look at that! Yes I did.

[Monty22]

Good, I missed that.. sorry.

[Destro]

You need to lay off either the coffee of the pot :)

[Technogeeb]

2) Do not experiment with phosphorescent spiders

Sorry, but that concept is just too cool to pass up. Thanks for the idea...

[Action-America]

That Coke will do it to you every time. But, if you think that you are wired, I just finished a double cappuccino. Now that's wired.

[KangarooJacqui]

Excuse me, matey, I'm not "freaking out" about anything... merely pointing out that this is hardly "breaking news".

[KangarooJacqui]

Like post 26 says, this thread hardly ranks as "breaking news". Unless you count stuff like Gulf War I as breaking news, that is.

[stands2reason]

Makes me wonder what the scientists were ''using'' when they thunk up this experiment.

What's wrong with it?

[Destro]

I agree- That is why I did not post it in breaking news.

[KangarooJacqui]

This is not Front Page News. The study that the above article refers to is very old (1995).

The results of the very real NASA study was first published in "NASA Tech Briefs", April 1995 Issue, in an article titled, "Using Spider-Web Patterns to Determine Toxicity", by Drs. R. J. Cronise, and R. A. Relwani. The New Yorker Magazine had a lot of fun with it at the time, claiming such things as, the results of the study had identified caffeine as the "human error drug".

I remember reading about it and thinking, "This is what our taxes are going for?!!!"

I'm normally a big supporter of NASA, but this one was way off base.


Thankyou for backing me up on this one, A-A. I knew I'd seen it a long time ago... and yet the poster of the article accuses me of "freaking out".

"Freaking out" indeed... *ahem*, where I come from it's called "calling a spade a spade", or in this case, "calling old (and somewhat weird) research by it's true name - that is, NOT "Front Page News". Sheesh!

[Destro]

Dude! Stop freaking out about it! :)

[cyborg]

I feel like having a doobie after being on this thread.

[KangarooJacqui]

I feel like having a doobie after being on this thread.

Hehe... nice idea. And what are you drinking to go with that tonight? :)

[cyborg]

[KangarooJacqui]

I wonder what sort of spider webs might be produced on Guinness... LOL

[cyborg]

Too drunk to spin