> If you think spiders are creepy when they\342\200\231re alive, just
> wait until you see what they can do when they\342\200\231re dead.
> A team of engineers at Rice University in Texas successfully
> reanimated dead spiders to serve as mechanical grippers.
Didn't Galvani do basically the same thing with frogs 240 years
earlier?
On reading the article, I see that the advantage of spiders is that
they don't have muscles in their legs, hence don't get rigor mortis
in their legs.
> That\342\200\231s right. In proof that we have permanently strayed
> from God\342\200\231s light, the team published a study of their
> Frankensteinian experiment in Advanced Science on July 26, in which
> they were able to control a dead spider\342\200\231s legs with puffs
> of air.
Mary Shelley was presumably inspired by Galvani's work with frogs.
I'm also reminded of something a little more recent. When I worked at
SAIC 40 years ago, they had lots of little drawers labeled with their
contents, such as capacitors, resistors, machine screws, wood screws,
solder, short wires, etc. I made up a label that said "dead bugs,"
put it on an empty drawer, and put dead bugs in the drawer. It took
more than a year before anyone noticed, and then they demonstrated
that they noticed by adding more dead bugs to the drawer.
I don't recall whether the dead bugs included spiders. But I never
thought any of the bugs would be useful. I wonder if the drawer is
still there, and still contains the same dead bugs.
--
Keith F. Lynch -
http://keithlynch.net/
Please see
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