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Amber reveals ecology of 30 million year old spiders
Scientists at The University of Manchester and the Manchester Metropolitan University have carried out the first comparative scientific study of ancient spiders trapped in amber more than 30 millions years ago.   view more (2006-03-01)

What are 3-D spider webs for?
The classic radial or "orb" spider web captures flying insects efficiently with a small amount of silk but such flat webs leave spiders exposed to their own predators. The derived "araneoid sheet web weavers" transformed the flat orb web into, usually, three-dimensional cobwebs and sheet webs.... view more (2003-01-02)

How parachute spiders invade new territory
Researchers have developed a new model that explains how spiders are able to 'fly' or 'parachute' into new territory on single strands of silk — sometimes covering distances of hundreds of miles over open ocean.   view more (2006-07-12)

Predators: an overlooked player in plant-pollinator relationships
Biologists have long recognized that predators can help to shape ecological communities -- wolves promote the growth of young trees through predation on moose, otters keep kelp forests thriving by preying on sea urchins, etc. Yet we have seldom considered the consequences of predation on animals... view more (2003-08-13)

Tarantulas produce silk from their feet
Researchers have found for the first time that tarantulas can produce silk from their feet as well as their spinnerets, a discovery with profound implications for why spiders began to spin silk in the first place.   view more (2006-09-28)

Living upside-down shapes spiders for energy saving
An interdisciplinary team of researchers from Spain and Croatia led an investigation into the peculiar lifestyle of numerous spider species, which live, feed, breed and 'walk' in an upside-down hanging position.   view more (2008-03-26)

Scientist brings 50 million year old spider 'back to life'
A 50-million-year-old fossilised spider has been brought back to life in stunning 3D by a scientist at The University of Manchester.   view more (2007-10-30)

Ground Spider Diversity Studied in Research Project
None of Takesha Henderson's discoveries are named Charlotte, but they are weaving a new chapter in Texas entomology. Her graduate studies at Texas A&M University have led to the discovery of 25 new spiders in Brazos County and one species found for the first time in Texas.   view more (2007-01-02)

UNIVERSITY SPIDER MAN CHARTS REGION`S SPECIES
A University of Plymouth lecturer has helped to compile a two-volume atlas detailing the biology, habitat and conservation of over 600 species of British spider. Peter Smithers of the Department of Biological Sciences has spent the last 20 years gathering information in Devon and Cornwall as part... view more (2002-05-16)

390-million-year-old scorpion fossil -- biggest bug known
The gigantic fossil claw of an 390 million-year-old sea scorpion, recently found in Germany, shows that ancient arthropods - spiders, insects, crabs and the like - were surprisingly larger than their modern-day counterparts.   view more (2007-11-26)

Spiders make best ever Post-it notes
Scientists have found that the way spiders stick to ceilings could be the key to making Post-it® notes that don't fall off - even when they are wet. A team from Germany and Switzerland have made the first detailed examinations of a jumping spider's 'foot' and have discovered that a molecular... view more (2004-04-15)

Evolution mystery: Spider venom and bacteria share same toxin
Biology researchers at Lewis & Clark College and the University of Arizona have found evidence for an ancient transfer of a toxin between ancestors of two very dissimilar organisms-spiders and a bacterium.   view more (2006-02-02)

A rarity among arachnids, predatory whip spiders have a sociable family life, CU researcher finds
Whip spiders, considered by many to be creepy-crawly, are giving new meaning to the term touchy-feely.   view more (2007-03-13)

UCR biologists unravel the genetic secrets of black widow spider silk
Biologists at the University of California, Riverside have identified the genes, and determined the DNA sequences, for two key proteins in the "dragline silk" of the black widow spider - an advance that may lead to a variety of new materials for industrial, medical and military uses.   view more (2007-06-13)

How does one sex grow larger than the other?
Why are males larger than females in some animal species (such as most mammals), females larger than males in others (such as most insects), and why are the sexes alike in yet other species (such as several birds)?   view more (2007-01-30)

New company learns from spider`s ability to spin
A new spin-out from Oxford University, Spinox, is aiming to devise novel ways to copy spiders` ability to spin silks. The new silks may be used for sutures or woven material for surgical implants, protective clothing and in sports equipment. Spinox has been set up to fully develop a spinning... view more (2002-03-07)

Scientists achieve self-assembly of genetically engineered spider silk fibre in insect cells
For the first time anywhere, scientists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and from Germany have succeeded in producing self-assembled spider web fibres under laboratory conditions, outside of the bodies of spiders. This fibre is significantly stronger than the silk fibre made by silkworms.   view more (2004-11-23)

Yale study offers new paradigm on ecosystem ecology
Predators have considerably more influence than plants over how an ecosystem functions, according to a Yale study published today in Science.   view more (2008-02-15)

MIT engineers probe spiders' polymer art
A team of MIT engineers has identified two key physical processes that lend spider silk its unrivaled strength and durability, bringing closer to reality the long-sought goal of spinning artificial spider silk.   view more (2006-10-31)

Ecological significance of tool-use in the woodpecker finch Cactospiza pallida
The Woodpecker finch, one of 14 Darwin`s finches of the Galapagos Islands, uses twigs or cactus spines to pry insects and spiders out of tree-holes. The advantage of using tools may seem evident, but empirical evidence is scarce. In a paper soon to appear in Ecology Letters, Tebbich and colleagues... view more (2002-09-09)

New 150 Million-Year-Old Crab Species Discovered
Researchers from Kent State University and the University of Bucharest, Romania, have discovered a new primitive crab species Cycloprosopon dobrogea in eastern Romania. Previously unexamined, these ancient crabs from the Prosopidae family existed more than 150 million years ago during the Jurassic... view more (2007-10-18)

Media invitation - Environmental change in Antarctic lakes and seas: the chances for survival or extinction? BA Festival of Science, Univ of Leicester
The effects of the warming of the Earth`s climate on Antarctic lakes and seas is a matter of life or death for many plants and animals at the frozen continent. Professor Lloyd Peck, biologist with British Antarctic Survey (BAS) discusses the prospects for survival or extinction of Antarctic marine... view more (2002-09-05)

A Glimpse of the Very Early Universal Web
The VLT Maps Extremely Distant Galaxies New, trailblazing observations with the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Paranal lend strong support to current computer models of the early universe: It is "spongy", with galaxies forming along filaments, like droplets along the strands of a spiders web. A... view more (2001-05-18)

A bug's life... in a bubble
Hundreds of insect species live mainly underwater, but how do they breathe? University of Alberta researcher Morris Flynn did a study to find out how these species are able to remain underwater without drowning.   view more (2008-08-11)

Why are there so many more species of insects? Because insects have been here longer
J. B. S. Haldane once famously quipped that "God is inordinately fond of beetles." Results of a study by Mark A. McPeek of Dartmouth College and Jonathan M. Brown of Grinnell College suggest that this fondness was expressed not by making so many, but rather by allowing them to persist for... view more (2007-04-04)
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