Spiders

Materials Audio available

Spider hair-inspired sensors could give drones a "spidey-sense"

Michael Irving May 20, 2019

Spider-Man's "spidey-sense" isn't purely fiction – spiders have tiny, sensitive hairs on their legs that help them avoid predators or hunt prey. And now, engineers at Purdue University have developed similar sensors for autonomous cars or drones.

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Biology Audio available

The tiny horror story of how wasps create "zombie" spiders to do their bidding

Michael Irving April 30, 2019

A fungus is known to control the minds and bodies of ants to help itself reproduce, but it’s not the only insect to use the morbid tactic. Certain species of parasitic wasps have been found to “zombify” spiders, and now a new review paper has examined exactly how the insects pull off this feat.

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Materials

Spider silk's strange reaction to moisture could lead to better artificial muscles

Michael Irving March 3, 2019

It’s no secret that spider silk is one of nature’s most incredible materials. Now scientists have discovered a weird new ability. A team led by MIT has found that when exposed to a certain level of humidity, spider silk suddenly shrinks and twists, which could make it useful in artificial muscles.

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Biology Audio available

Recently-discovered tarantula sports a mysterious back horn

Ben Coxworth February 12, 2019

​Many times, when new species are discovered, the characteristics that set them apart can only be appreciated by scientists. That isn't the case with the Ceratogyrus attonitifer tarantula, however – the thing has a long, soft horn protruding out of its back, and nobody knows why it's there.

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Medical Audio available

Funnel-web spider venom found to contain potent killer of skin cancer cells

Nick Lavars October 7, 2018

Scorpions, rattlesnakes and funnel-web spiders have all provided scientists with promising building blocks for next-generation medicines, and a dangerous Australian arachnid has again reared its head with a compound in its venom found to be a potent killer of melanoma cells.

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Materials

Bacteria build stronger biosynthetic spider silk, protein by protein

Michael Irving August 21, 2018

Strong as steel and tougher than Kevlar, spider silk is one of nature’s most impressive materials. Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis have now engineered bacteria to produce biosynthetic spider silk that they say performs as well as the real stuff.

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Robotics

Peacock spider inspires small, soft, fluid-powered robots

Michael Irving August 7, 2018

If robots are ever going to work alongside humans in the real world, they're going to need a softer touch. Harvard researchers have developed a new method for producing small-scale squishy robots, and demonstrated it by creating a flexible robotic peacock spider, driven by a microfluidics system.

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Science

Flying spiders are tapping into global electric fields for takeoff

Michael Irving July 9, 2018

It’s long been thought that spiders were "ballooning" on silk parachutes thanks to the wind picking them up, but a new study has found that the creatures are actually making use of atmospheric electric fields instead.

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Materials

New wood nanofiber biomaterial steals strength record from spider silk

Michael Irving May 9, 2018

Spider silk has long held the title of strongest natural biomaterial. Now, researchers at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology have developed a new biomaterial out of wood nanofibers that steals the strength record.

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Science

Ancient spider with a tail found preserved in amber

Michael Irving February 5, 2018

Scientists have discovered a brand new species of spider, with a feature that’s not normally seen in the creatures – a tail. If that’s making your skin crawl, take solace in the fact that the new arachnid, dubbed Chimerarachne, lived 100 million years ago and its remains were found trapped in amber.

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