Spiders

Science

Milking A Black Widow Looks Just As Crazy As It Sounds

4:30PM February 2, 2012 | Casey Chan

Paul Lazarro has one of the weirdest gigs I’ve ever heard of: he milks black widow spiders for their silk. Yeap! The venomous, red dotted, eight-legged, creature-killing black widow is knocked out and then handled for its super strong silk. All in the name of dangerous research. More »


Science

Detachable Spider Penises Allow For Sneaky Escapes From Cannibalistic Mates

8:00PM February 1, 2012 | Andrew Tarantola

The male orb-web spider has a dangerous natural imperative. He — the little one on the left — has to have sex with the behemoth on the right. And she wants to eat him. What’s a guy to do? Use his detachable penis to keep her satisfied while he scurries off, of course. More »


Geek Out

I Believe There’s A Giant Spider On Your Back

9:00PM January 24, 2012 | Andrew Tarantola

Those of you with arachnophobia may want to turn away from your monitors. This enormous inflatable spider puppet was built by UK artist Tim Davies for street and carnival performances. Details are still scarce on its inner workings or controls but Davies mentions that the legs are “air-powered.” Video! More »


Science

If Spider-Man Went Into Fashion, This Is What He’d Make

2:00AM January 20, 2012 | Jamie Condliffe

I’ll admit that it looks a bit like your grandparents’ bath towels, but this is actually the largest piece of clothing ever made purely from spider silk. More »


Geek Out

Giant Spider Terrorises Space Shuttle And Anchorwoman

5:15AM January 17, 2012 | Sam Biddle

Just a little fun around the News 12 set, eh guys? A little spidey crawled across the lens while we were filming the space shuttle! Heh. Cute little spider dude. Aw, it looks like — AH JESUS HERE IT COMES. More »


Science

Spiderbot Goes Where Spiderman Can’t, Including Nightmares

5:40PM November 3, 2011 | Andrew Tarantola

The next time you find yourself buried in rubble, your saviour might not be a keen-nosed rescue dog but rather this terror-inducing robo-arachnid. Huzzah? More »


Science

This Spider Is 49 Million Years Old

1:20PM May 20, 2011 | Sam Biddle

Unfortunately, he/she is dead. Very, very dead. But! Clever scientists have been able to bring it to life (sorta) via x-ray scans, which virtually dug the crawler out of its prehistoric amber crypt. The video is eerily silent. [via Hairpin]


Science

Hexapod Robot Manages To Make Innocent Little Waves Looks Six Times More Creepy

3:00AM April 10, 2011 | Jack Loftus

New for Spring! Creepy pseudo-arachnid robots—great for going into even creepier, crawlier places so you don’t have to! Also, check out that cute little wave it does in the video! Aww. More »


Science

Why Are Millions Of Spiders Invading Thousands Of Trees?

7:20AM March 29, 2011 | Jesus Diaz

These huge trees are fully covered with thousands of spiderwebs, something never before seen in Sindh, Pakistan, where this photo was taken. Yes, it’s a eewrifying image, but it has had a surprisingly positive effect on the population of this heavily punished part of the world. More »


Science

Spiders Won’t Bite

11:00AM February 19, 2011 | Adrian Covert

Spiders are often portrayed as malicious, bloodthirsty creatures looking for anything with a pulse to sink its fangs into, especially us humans. Look no further than movies like Arachniphobia, Arachnid or even Eight Legged Freaks. Even Peter Parker was the victim of a random spider bite. But the truth is, spiders don’t really bite. I mean, sure they bite, but only if you really provoke them to do so. More »