Videos
Podcasts
Blogs
Quizzes
GamesPosts Tagged: ‘spiders’
If you were born a baby spider, things would have turned out much differently for you. You’d have been mostly brain, for example. Researchers have long suspected that tiny spiders — the young of which are routinely born deformed yet grow into normally proportioned adults — are born with very large brains. Now they know it, thanks to what I imagine is research that amounted to dissecting deformed spider babies carried out by arachnid specialists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, down Panama way.
I think there’s probably nothing more disturbing than a giant spider, one where you can see all of its mouth parts and eyes and hairs. Extremely close up photography provides some of the unsettlement, but at least you can’t hear the terrible sounds they make. Their ability to terrify me (only in gigantism) notwithstanding, spiders are also extremely interesting creatures (arachnids, to be technical).
Last night I discovered thousands of wolf spiders staring at me in my backyard
by Marshall Brain | September 20, 2010
So you know how, once you find or buy something like that, you want to try it out? Me too. So I strapped mine on, called the dog and went out into the backyard. I have been doing a big yard project, so there are some piles of dirt in the back yard.
I turned my head and shined the headlight on one of the piles, and the strangest thing happened. It sparkled. The pile of dirt had all these reflections coming off of it. I stood facing the pile and looked at it. Still sparkling. This is a very poor photograph of what I saw…
Spider Silk That’s 10 Times Better Than Kevlar
by Allison Loudermilk | September 17, 2010
As Peter Parker could tell you if he weren’t off fighting the Green Goblin, spiders are amazing creatures. A lot of that awesomeness stems from the silk with which they spin their mighty webs. With its tough but elastic nature, the silk that some arachnids like to loop from spot to spot creates a dragline that’s tougher than Kevlar — the material you want to be outfitted with if you ever decide to take a bullet, not that we’re suggesting that.
Now a couple of researchers suggest that they’ve found the toughest biological material ever, as reported in the journal PLoS ONE.
Spiders are amazing creatures, and the ability to spin and navigate a web ranks up there near the top of insect capabilities. In the following video you can see a spider spinning the classic web and avoiding stickiness…
A few weeks ago, history blogger Katie Lambert forwarded me a World Hum article on how to eat fried tarantula in Cambodia. I don’t really want to eat fried tarantula, but according to travel writer Darrin DuFord, if you take a taxi to the town of Skuon and roll down the window, street vendors (who are not on roller skates) will approach your vehicle with trays piled high in fried arachnids.
You Asked: How do I get rid of confirmed brown recluse spiders in an old house that we’re renovating? — Deedee, Auburn, Ga. Marshall Brain Answers: One thing is sure – Brown recluse spiders are not to be messed with, as demonstrated in these two videos. The bite of a brown recluse can cause an […]
World Record #124 – The deadliest spiders in the world
by Marshall Brain | January 22, 2010
The deadliest spiders can be found in Australia. They are known as funnel web spiders, one of which is common to Sydney. The other is found in the mountains and has half-inch-long fangs dripping venom. This year is a particularly good year for the spiders: Killer funnel-web spiders invade Sydney Forget sharks and crocodiles: the […]
Recent Postings by Category
BrainStuff
- Thank You and Best Wishes to Marshall Brain
- Contest – Design a $300 house and win $25,000
- How the Philtrum works – the place under your nose where your face comes together
The Coolest Stuff on the Planet
Keep Asking
- Why can a 5 foot 8 inch man dunk a basketball on a 10 foot rim while some people of taller stature can’t?
- What happens to our sun once it runs out of fuel?
- How do we know the age of the universe?
Stuff Mom Never Told You
- Hollywood’s First Magical Makeover Movie
- 7 Types of ‘Friends with Benefits’ Relationships
- How Sad Breakup Songs Make Us Feel Better
Stuff to Blow Your Mind
- Blow Your Mind: Slay Your Paper Tigers
- Space Religion: Cao Dai and the 72 Inhabited Exoplanets
- Blow the Mind: Objects of Love
Stuff You Should Know
- “In The Neighborhood” by Jon Stewart Mosman
- “Frame Story” by Adam Pracht
- “Thanatos” by Christopher Vincola
The Stuff of Genius
CarStuff
- Show Notes: Heart-stopping Last Laps of Racing
- Never say Never: Jaguar XJ220 Spotted in the Wild!
- What’s your pick for the 2013 Indianapolis 500 pace car?
How-to Stuff
PopStuff
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 152: Final Episodes
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 151: Mailbag!
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 150: Barbie!
Stuff They Don't Want You To Know
Stuff to Change the World
- Who will own the Arctic?
- Obesity: The New Global Crisis
- Bill Gates Makes For A Pretty Decent Cartoon
