Results of NASA experiments with Spiders and Drugs

missblackwidow.com ^ | Steve Connor

[KangarooJacqui]

LOL... I am in danger of getting red wine all over my keyboard if you keep this sort of posting up... *snigger*...

(That's one spider I might not be frightened of, actually!)

[cyborg]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1082438/posts
Quaffing red wine is good

[Fledermaus]

Where's Peter Parker?

[Fledermaus]

Yeah, it's more important to test that stuff on humans!

[MattAMiller]

Lots of agencies go through a period where they experiment with drugs. The important thing to do is to involved in other activities before it becomes a habit.

[Rudder]

Now if spiders had brains like humans, this would be interesting...

[longtermmemmory]

You could get the same results by observing the postings of Freepers.

Some comments here make one wonder what drugs some people are consuming.

[samtheman]

Spiders on drugs.

Houseflies would call that a Victimless Crime.

[Cold Heart]

Thanks A.J.

The "Dieting For Your Blood Type" says I'm supposed to drink coffee. New internal bug repelant.

[EEDUDE]

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


Yep. Done by one of my classmates in high school back in 1972 for a Science Fair project.

[EEDUDE]

"Ok, what does it prove?"

Proves we need another arm of the DEA dedicated to stopping drug trafficking among spiders.

[coloradan]

Some of the "photos" are drawings - lines under tension don't wiggle, they are stright or possibly sag if very long.

Second, it looks like caffeine is one of the most damaging drugs to a spider's ability to spin webs, and LSD causes spiders to make a better web than no drugs at all. (Drug warriors please note.)

[Chu Gary]

fascinating stuff!

[Destro]

They are not drawings.

[coloradan]

The ones for mescaline, LSD, and caffeine look like photographs - the black background has darker and paler spots, the lines are of different brightness, and there are some other defects (spots, bands, etc.) visible on them. The "no drugs" one is a tough call. The ones for marijuana, speed, and especially choral hydrate look like drawings because the black backgrounds are absolutely uniform and have no defects, the line widths are constant and of uniform brightness, and wiggle during their lengths. The central circle in the chloral hydrate web is oval, whereas in a real web it would be a polygon, changing angle each time a radial strand pulled it out, and there are few enough of them that the polygonal appearance would be obvious. The speed web, just above the central hole, has a strand that heads upwards in the 10 o'clock direction, and then hooks to the left and down, making an inverted J shape. Real threads don't and can't do this - what's holding up the arch?

I'm not saying the effects of drugs on web weaving isn't as represented - these could be drawings of actual webs, but they are drawings.

[elli1]

What's wrong with it?

Nuthin'. I thought the pictures were amusing.

[Lucky_underpants]

Here ya go dude.....

http://science.nasa.gov/faq/NASA%20Tech%20Brief.pdf

[RightWhale]

When was this? 25 years ago?

[Destro]

Man is this post old - how did u find it?

[RightWhale]

It scrolled by just as I was looking. Somebody bumped it.