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Washington (AFP) – Cloudy with a chance to … spiders?
The phenomenon of "flying" spiders sliding in the air and traveling like balloons for hundreds of kilometers has a new possible explanation: the natural electric charge of the air
Spider air travel – often known as "hot air ballooning" – have been observed for a long time, especially by the biologist Charles Darwin, who documented the show in his newspaper in the 19th century. The hypothesis suggested that spiders weave very fine silk threads that sink into the wind and transport them at altitude, sometimes over great distances at high altitudes.
But this does not explain how spiders take flight on rainy days
The static electricity of the atmosphere – the same that bristles the hairs after rubbing a balloon on a wool sweater – is another possible explanation, which researchers at the University of Bristol have decided to put to the test
. In their results published Thursday in the journal Current Biology, scientists described how they set up a box to create an atmosphere isolated from the ambient air and therefore without the electric field otherwise present on Earth.
They then made their own electric field. Inside, they placed a small Erigone spider – a senior author-type Erica Morley described as "frequent astronauts."
With the electric field lit up, the researchers observed that the spider has pointing his abdomen In the air, he dropped a long strand of silk and rolled in the air.
But when it went out, the spiders kept their legs on the ground.
The researchers concluded that electrostatic forces were sufficient to fly spiders – but arachnids probably use both methods at the same time
Other wingless organisms, including many caterpillars and 39, spider-spiders, also take in.
The study authors said that there was still much to explain on the subject, including on the physical properties of the spider silk.
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