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The phenomenon of spiders flying, falling from the sky and traveling like hot air balloons for hundreds of kilometers has just found a new explanation: the natural electric charge of air, which " would hang " the arachnid silk threads.
These spider air journeys have been observed for a long time. Charles Darwin himself noted in his diary in the nineteenth century.
One hypothesis studied closely was that spiders wove very fine threads, which were then carried away by the wind, sometimes over very long distances, and at altitudes of several kilometers. This is what researcher Moonsung Cho described in June in the journal PLOS Biology.
But the static electricity of the atmosphere was the other hypothesis – the same one that bristles hairs and hair after a balloon is rubbed on a woolen sweater. Perhaps spiders' threads are lifted in the same way?
Researchers at Bristol University in the United Kingdom have tested this in the laboratory. They published their results Thursday in the journal Current Biology
In a box, they created an atmosphere isolated from the ambient air, without the electric field present otherwise everywhere on Earth. Then they created their own electric field, which they were able to turn on and off.
Erigone
Inside, they placed a small Erigone spider a few millimeters, a family often used in the study of spider flights. " They are frequent astronauts, and they fly even when they are adults ," says AFP researcher Erica Morley, lead author of the experiment.
They then observed that others before them had noticed: the spider stands on its paws, then points its abdomen upward … and weaves threads … before flying off in the blink of an eye, as if carried away by a hot air balloon very fast.
When the ambient electricity was extinguished, the spiders fell back.
The researchers conclude that the electrostatic forces are enough to make the spiders fly. But they argue that they probably use both methods at once: wind and static electricity.
Research in this area is still in its infancy. We must better study the physical properties of very fine spider silk, and carry out studies outside the laboratories. In addition to arthropods, caterpillars and other wingless insects disperse by air
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