Spiders can also spread silk in the universe

Two spiders named Anita and Arabella were sent to Skylab Space Station in 1973 to see if they could spread the silk in a zero gravity environment, this was the idea of ​​a high school girl named Judy Miles.

Experiment for silk spiders in the universe

On the first day, Arabella was unable to perform her usual routine when the zero gravity environment made its yarn mess. However, on the third day, Arabella became acquainted with this uncomfortable environment and began to create her own net, even as assessed, its quality was much better than when Arabella did it. This work on Earth.

In fact, they are reported to perform "slightly erratic movements" and die while on duty, and tests show that the bodies of two spiders are dehydrated, although water is prepared next to them. It seems that it is better and better to spread spider webs on the universe than it does on Earth , and today, people still retain their lives by the Anita spider, and place them in the Smithsonian Museum (USA).

In 2012, another spider named Nefertiti lived with 100-day astronauts on the ISS Space Station in a vacuum before Nefertiti died in his cocoon. Nefertiti is a 10-month-old Johnson-like jumping spider, while the average species survives for a year before dying. The Museum of Natural History The Smithsonian State of America only gave the cause of Nefertiti's death as a natural reason and did not conduct any further tests on this particular spider.

Stefanie Countryman, project manager K-12 of Colorado Space Technology University, said: "Why could that happen to a living creature, so far no one has been able to answer. Until returning to the Smithsonian Museum it still ate and worked well, perhaps Nefertiti died of being too old ". Kelly Carnes, a staff member of the Museum's press office, said: "We want Nefertiti to be part of the collection and serve the research work, so it's better and let its body be intact."

The University of Colorado has planned a series of tests for Nefertiti on ISS. Surprisingly, it is still possible to carry out hunting activities in vacuum, healthy survival during the 100 days of this special journey.