Spider spins web in space

Spider spins web in space

edition.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

This is a fabulous experiment as to how less intelligent creatures would behave and act in zero gravity. Do they realize that there is no gravity.

Looking at the video it does appear that the spider is weaving its webs normally

What if there are colonies of spiders that are sent for long periods in space. Will we see some genetic mutation that helps them adjust to the space and gravity or rather lack of it?

edition.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I am glad to see American dollars spent wisely


[edit on 21-11-2008 by all2human]

Yes so it would seem some day we may see giant mutant spiders raining down to conquer the planet. All hail our spider over lords.

www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by all2human

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Better this and science than Wall Street fatcats and their private jets.

Edited for improper use of a homonym.

[edit on 11/21/2008 by GetOutOfMyRabbitHole]

I see a giant spider with a bunch of astronauts caught in it's web circling the Earth for a long, long time.

Let's just hope in time it doesn't figure out how to fly the shuttle.

Spider's preflight mission statement:
"This mission is truly a milestone for our species or genus. I'm not sure which. This may be one small warp for spider but it is one giant weave for spider kind."

Fly's preflight mission statement:
"I'm not sure why I'm here. No one told me what my mission even was. Shouldn't I get some sort of briefing? HEY! Stop pushing! I just want some GOD DA *inaudible* *scuffle* Help!"

Jon

I dunno - I was expecting something a little more grand. Spiders can weave gorgeous webs. This one was fairly mundane :-(

reply to post by all2human

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If the whole human race thought like you, we would still be in caves sitting around fires afraid to go out at night. Science brings knowledge and knowledge is power. Maybe we should stop all science and just send you the money?

Please be aware we won't get much from this experiment

The spiders depressed,

It's been around Govt types for weeks

and by now realizes it can't compete with the tangled webs they weave!

It tells me that some species can adapt to low gravity environments. When and if we ever get off this rock (Earth) we may want to bring species of animals and plants that will help us build a new ecosystem on other worlds.

sounds like the preqeual to star ship troopers

I have to say it is stories like this that make me very depressed about the Space Program. Sure, it's a relatively interesting concept - but actually one we could simulate fairly easily on Earth, rather than sending a spider into space for.

Anyone who's played any Civ games will know that the best research is done with a clear end goal and strategy in place. You investigate relevant science on the road to a specific development. What frustrates me is the number of really quite tediously banal investigations that go under the heading of "increasing our understanding".

When Armstrong talked of that "giant leap for mankind", I bet he didn't imagine we were leaping into a giant vat of bug-related scientific quicksand like this.

LW

P.S





This is the best reason for an edit I have ever seen on these boards. Next time I wilfully misuse a gerund, I'm going to make sure I point it out for all to see. Bad grammar amnesty.

The ways creatures like spiders act in space will help us humans understand better about gravity and effects of non gravity in space on humans. I dont see us building a Noah' ark very soon because even if animals and insects are transported to lets say Mars, we still need to create an artificial atmosphere for them.

Didn't know Sarah Palin is a member of the site.
This is just like that meaningless "fruit fly research" you talked about, I kid you not.

P.S, You can't be Sarah. It's impossible. I don't think she could get past the member registration process. Wouldn't figure it out.

They seem to lose a lot up there at the ISS these days. First the toolbag that went flying into the oblivion of space - and now one of their two spiders is missing:


www.timesonline.co.uk...

Oh well, as long as they don't start losing astronauts too...

Ziggy and the Spiders from Mars

I would like to remind some that spider silk is a remarkable material, worthy of scientific analysis. Material sciences may not have been stated here, but zero-g silk spinning might produce a silk that is distinct from that spun in normal earth gravity.

It can be productive, but that doesn't mean the scientists and engineers have a clue as how to explain the experiment, making it seem trite and pointless.

Well I know that the main thing that limits the overall size of insects and arachnids is the level of oxygen in the atmosphere, that's why in prehistoric times dragonfly's could be the size of albatross, something to do with exoskeletons limiting the respiration in relation to size.

So whack up the oxygen levels, get some bird eating spiders up there in micro G, pump em full of spider steroids and expose em to the radiation up there and we could have legions of massive spiders to do our bidding.... That wont be able to survive on earth, didn't think this through, well a 6 foot spider could come in useful on the ISS i suppose.

It may actually be a good idea to take some spiders along in future missions to colonize spade. The spider silk is a remarkable material, both extremely light and extremely strong, and may come in handy:



en.wikipedia.org...

Reading this post, the dangling participle also comes to mind. (Hint: the previous sentence contains a dangling participle.) Always find a good sentence to put the improper use of a preposition in. And never start a sentence with a conjunction.

LOL.

I doubt this spider is a stowaway, as the CNN commentators suggested. And I agree with a prior post that it would have been WAY, WAY cooler to see an orb weaver in space.

I wonder if weightlessness will have an impact on the tensile strength/composition of the spider's web?

[edit on 21-11-2008 by OuttaHere]