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.

[cyborg]

Yes but did they get the urge to ear Doritos afterwards? THAT's the important question.

[elli1]

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

[blackbart.223]

"Results of NASA experiments with Spiders and Drugs."

I don't experiment with spiders. I just step on them.

[Cold Heart]

Most abnormal one looks like the caffein

[KangarooJacqui]

I've seen this study, or something very much like it, before. When was it published? Ages ago, I believe.

[flying Elvis]

Just in case they ever encounter Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

[Prime Choice]

Since when are third-party pages on spiders accepted as definitive information on NASA programs?

NASA does experiments on the effects of spaceflight on spiders and other creatures. I have yet to find a NASA site that indicates NASA does any sort of drug-related experiments on spiders or any other creature.

But don't take my word for it, try your own Google search. http://www.google.com/search?q=nasa%2Bspiders%2Bdrugs

[KangarooJacqui]

Since when are third-party pages on spiders accepted as definitive information on NASA programs?

Exactly. And since when does this qualify as "Breaking news" or "Front Page News"? Expect this to be moved to the Smokey Backroom or at the very least, General Interest/Chat before too long.

[GeronL]

YIKES. That makes me want to stop drinking soft drinks....

[GeronL]

this is your spider..... this is your spider on drugs

[cyborg]

*LOL* hey I was about to post to you about jolt cola :)

[Sir Gawain]

This is old. What's the point of posting an old article other than flamebait?

[The Radical Capitalist]

I see a new Public Service announcement for arachnids: "This is your web...this is your web on drugs."

[cyborg]

smokeybackroom needs a new WOD thread?

[Destro]

I did not know where to place this article. There is no science section that I know of. This article is just a comment on the NASA study and I thought a fun read for Freepers. Why are you freaking out about it?

[Monty22]

Is this a real nasa study?

[Destro]

Who the freak would find this article flame worthy? This article is sort of in line with science pull out sections in major newspapers.

[Destro]

Yea it was.

[Prime Choice]

Pointing out facts is "freaking out" in your view?

You need to get out more often, kid.

[Destro]

Let me know what facts you feel are in contention. Enjoy the pics.

[Monty22]

Ok, what does it prove?

[Prime Choice]

Is this a real nasa study?

Judging from the absolute lack of mention of such programs on all NASA sites I've seen, I'd have to say no.

NASA does spaceflight experiments on spiders and other creatures, but the drug stuff isn't part of it.

[GeronL]

I think I will stick to bottled water for a while

[Destro]

No agenda - just results of a science experiment.

[primeval patriot]

Spider web images originally appeared in A Spider's Web by Peter N. Witt, Charles F. Reed and David B. Peakall. Copyright 1968 by Springer-Verlag.

1998

Dr. Peter N. Witt

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Dr. Peter N. Witt, widely known for his research
involving psychoactive drugs and spiders, died Tuesday. He was 80.

Witt was born in Berlin and educated in Germany and Austria. While studying
medicine during World War II, he joined an underground group of doctors who
treated civilian casualties of the Allied bombing campaigns on German cities.

After the war he moved to Switzerland, where a Life magazine article drew the
world's attention to his work involving spiders. Witt had discovered that
psychoactive drugs such as LSD, psilocybin (psychedelic mushrooms) and
marijuana caused changes in the webs of a particular arachnid, the orb spider.

Witt was named executive director of the North Carolina Foundation of Mental
Health Research in 1966 and was director of research for the State Department
of Mental Health.

[Monty22]

Like 23 said, this link wreaks of BS

[Destro]

This a well known NASA study. Maybe you were on coffee when you searched the web?

[sixmil]

I wonder what their webs look like after consuming nicotine or alcohol. Dare to keep spiders off of drugs!

[Destro]

Like 26

[RightWingAtheist]

[Prime Choice]

Let me know what facts you feel are in contention. Enjoy the pics.

Did you even READ my original message? Go back and read it again. Then read it once more. And, for full effect, read it AGAIN.

As I pointed out from the very start, I can find no evidence to support the claim that NASA does drug tests on any animals (arachnids include) that the author of this piece claims. NASA does do experiments on weightlessness in creatures. But I challenge anyone here to find a NASA.GOV site that puts forth this information.

This third-party site should at least have some kind of footnotes on its claims, but no such data is provided. That tells me that someone's either misremembering, or they're pulling these factoids out of their butt.

[Destro]

[Prime Choice]

This a well known NASA study. Maybe you were on coffee when you searched the web?

Okay, fine. Prove me wrong. Show me a NASA.GOV site that has this information and claims that it was a NASA study.

I know people who work at NASA. All of them are tired of having the NASA name attached to crackpot claims.

[Destro]

Did the internet exist in the late 60s?

[Prime Choice]

I've seen lots of things propped up as genuine news articles in my day...again, all without attribution. Why, there was even a brouhaha the other day about one Freeper who faked a picture of John Kerry next to Jane Fonda (caused quite a stir...I'd be surprised if you missed it).

As a conaequence, I find your image to be sorely lacking in terms of credibility.

Again...find a NASA.GOV site that holds this data or give it up.

[Prime Choice]

Did the internet exist in the late 60s?

Well if that didn't come out of left field...

Yes, the Internet existed in the late 1960s.

In fact, the Internet existed in the EARLY 1960s.

[HiTech RedNeck]

There are things highly poisonous to bugs that don't faze humans, and vice versa. Using this as a test of toxicity to anything but spiders is fanciful at best.

[bluefish]

Destro, sorry everybody is giving you crap, freaking out with "facts" in response to your post and calling you a "kid" in an effort to appear grown up themselves.

I enjoyed this, and found it fascinating. I have to question the veracity though. It would seem that caffeine results in the worst web. I have trouble believing that caffeine was the most toxic of all the test drugs!

[bluefish]

Ahhh... yes. Different creatures, different effects. Even more damning than my prior observation regarding caffeine vs. the other drugs with regards to exposing this "article." It was still a fun read.

[cyborg]

I googled it to death and here's what I found

MFS-28921 and comes from the April 1995 Tech Briefs...

I'm too tired to search the reams of webpages at the Marshall Flight Center

[HiTech RedNeck]

Nothing is stated here about the dosage. A big enough slug of table salt would do to kill a spider.

[primeval patriot]

Maybe NASA did spray Lysergic Acid Diethylamide onto
spiders. I saw these images long ago but don't recall the NASA affilliation.

[Monty22]

Frankly, big deal. I just asked if it was a real study or not.

They're all screwed up when on something. Does that mean anything? A spider's reactions to x drug? Does that result in any meaningful data?

Does caffeine affect a human the same as a cocaine? Or whatever?

This is a useless, weird enterprise.

I'd like to know what your agenda is.

[Ken H]

Did the internet exist in the late 60s?

I'm not sure, but spiders have had websites for a long time.

< /rimshot>

[Arkinsaw]

My requests to lurking scientists:
1) Do not experiment with growth hormones and spiders
2) Do not experiment with phosphorescent spiders
3) Do not attempt to grow additional legs on spiders
4) Do not attempt to grow human ears on spiders
5) Do not do agression experiments with spiders
6) Do not give spiders hallucinogenic drugs to see what they will do

[bluefish]

Saw a page that said he got a reply from NASA upon inquiring. They didn't conduct the experiments, but rather derived the information from a private experiement, or something like that, according to that page.

[Redcloak]

A web spun by a spider on bug spray.

[bluefish]

So it was a fun read. "Big deal" is right. Apparently it is, to more than the original poster, givent the generally hostile response. Laugh it off.

"Agenda?" I'm sure that Destro is plotting world domination, with this posting somehow representing the initial step in an intricate, highly developed, "well-spun" plan.

[ryanjb2]

"In fact, the Internet existed in the EARLY 1960s."

Impossible! In the early 1960's, the Internet's inventor - Al Gore - was only in his early teens!