When #spacetwitter met #spidertwitter

June 6, 2017 9:51 AM

What do you do if spiders rain from the ceiling in the astronomy department? SCIENCE!

Helpful spider scientists chime in to explain why the spiders like green light more than red, and also calculate how much astronomy they can do. Glorious consilience for all!

(small videos of spiders for the very phobic, but no closeups)

posted by tavella (14 comments total)

This is the best internet thing I've read all week!
posted by Atom Eyes at 10:03 AM on June 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

I know! I just love the idea of jumping spiders sitting on a twig, watching the moon curiously.
posted by tavella at 10:05 AM on June 6, 2017 [4 favorites]

Unfortunately our control spider crawled away.

"Control Spider" would be a great band name.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:15 AM on June 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

When I was a kid some friends of ours had a beat up old station. Spiders had made a nest up in the falling down headliner, so whenever we went anywhere in that car eventually we'd go over a bump and spiders would rain down on the passengers. My inclination would have been to never get in this car, but their family owned a motel with a pool, so going to the pool sometimes won out over sheer terror.
posted by lagomorphius at 10:31 AM on June 6, 2017 [8 favorites]

What do you do if spiders rain from the ceiling in the astronomy department?

Run screaming from the building while attempting to brush non-existent creatures from my hair and vowing never to go back.
posted by tommasz at 10:38 AM on June 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

Lagomorphius, I am fascinated by your story, but I will not favorite it. If I could, I would un-favorite it repeatedly, until the mouse button wore away.
posted by Four Ds at 10:38 AM on June 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

1. I can verify that spiders also chase mouse cursors across computer screens.

2. Control Spider would indeed be a great band name. I picture them doing David Bowie covers.
posted by JohnFromGR at 10:41 AM on June 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

This is the best internet thing I've read all week!

We're clearly just at the beginning of the Crichton book, wherein the Pollyanna characters are still experiencing unalloyed joy, but our own inability to find those characters believable (How can they not see what the scientists' experimental laser-controlled jumping spiders are going to lead to by chapter 10?!?) is tempered only by the schadenfreude of wondering which character is going to be eaten first.
posted by roystgnr at 10:43 AM on June 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

That was totally delightful!
posted by rtha at 10:48 AM on June 6, 2017

This is why I read metafilter, this was THE BEST!!!!
posted by lemonade at 10:48 AM on June 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

Article about this in the Atlantic.
posted by rtha at 10:57 AM on June 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Jumping spiders are the cats of the mini-beast world: they'll play with you, and happily explore a proffered hand or arm. Phidippus audax live up to their name, and will try to take you on no matter how big you are. Mercifully, they're harmless. Yes, it's spider season, so it's squeeing a-plenty from me.

why yes i do have very few human friends why do you ask?
posted by scruss at 4:39 PM on June 6, 2017 [4 favorites]

Now I'm wondering if ballooning spiders are merely the precursor to an arachno-space program.
_{Also I have new trivia whenever someone asks about my username. Score!}
posted by Lykosidae at 6:16 PM on June 6, 2017

Here I must refer you to the (spoiler) dystopian Spider World trilogy by Colin Wilson (I, for one...etc)
posted by mollymillions at 7:58 PM on June 6, 2017