Plants & Animals
Oct 13, 2022
Research shows social spiders have different ways of hunting in groups
New research has identified how social spiders evolved different ways of hunting in groups.
Search results for Spider
Biochemistry
Oct 13, 2022
Global database of spider silk to aid development of biomaterials
What's stronger and tougher than steel, and more elastic than rubber, weight for weight? Spider silk is, and this incredibly versatile material could transform engineering, materials science and even medicine—if we could ...
Ecology
Oct 13, 2022
Wolf spider's hunting rate may peak at 85 degrees
Since the mid-20th century, ecologists have been studying how the availability of prey affects the rate at which predators kill and consume it. Depending on the animals and the ecosystem, predators do tend to consume more ...
Biochemistry
Oct 6, 2022
Re-spun silkworm silk is 70% stronger than spider silk
Spiders hold the market for the strongest silks but are too aggressive and territorial to be farmed. The next best alternative involves incorporating spider DNA into silkworms, an expensive and difficult-to-scale process. ...
Evolution
Oct 5, 2022
For first time, study identifies top trends in the biological impacts of urbanization
A new research study overseen by Brian Verrelli, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Center for Biological Data Science at Virginia Commonwealth University, could have major implications for research across the university ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 20, 2022
How the Australian ant-slayer spider captures ants
A team of researchers at Macquarie University, in Australia, working with two colleagues from Universität Hamburg, in Germany, has uncovered the means by which the Australian ant-slayer spider is able to capture and eat ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 1, 2022
Ferns finally get a genome, revealing a history of DNA hoarding and kleptomania
Ferns are notorious for containing massive amounts of DNA and an excessively large number of chromosomes. Defying all expectations, a fern no larger than a dinner plate currently holds the title for highest chromosome count, ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 31, 2022
This spider-eating, nest-sharing bat was once safe from fire, until the Black Summer burned its rainforests
Golden-tipped bats are peculiar creatures. By night, they hunt the understory for orb-weaving spiders, plucking them carefully from their sticky webs. By day, they roost in excavated basements at the bottom of nests made ...
Social Sciences
Aug 22, 2022
What fake news about spiders can teach us about the global spread of (mis)information
It's no secret that the internet and social media fuel the rampant spread of (mis)information in many areas of life. Now, researchers reporting in Current Biology on August 22 have explored this phenomenon as it applies to ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 16, 2022
Male spiders maximize sperm transfer to counter female cannibalism
When sexual conflict results in reproductive strategies that only benefit one of the sexes, it may result in evolutionary arms races. Male spiders have evolved behavioral mating strategies to improve their chances of mating ...
