Every so often , otherwise terra firma - bound spider take to the melodic line . Ballooning spiders can journey hundreds of nautical mile through the air ( and , horrifyingly , rainfall downon unsuspecting towns ) . The common explanation for this phenomenon is that the spiderssurf the windon strands of silk , but there may be other force out at work , according to a new field of study spotted byThe Atlantic .
In the enquiry , published inCurrent Biology , University of Bristol scientists argue that Earth ’s atmospherical electricity permit spiders to become airborne even on windless days . To try their hypothesis , the researcher exposed spiders in the lab to electric fields similar to those naturally find in the atmosphere .
When the electric field of operations was turned on , the spiders began to exhibit behaviour associated with ballooning — they " tiptoed " on the close of their legs , raise their stomach , and liberate silk . wanderer only demonstrate this behavior when ballooning . And when they did become airborne , the spiders ’ altitude could be ascertain by turning the electric plain on and off . When the electrical field was on , they rose through the air , but when it was off , they drifted downward .
This furnish a possible explanation for why spider take to the skies on sure days but not others , and how they can fly in calm , windless weather condition — something scientists have puzzled over since the former nineteenth hundred . ( Even Darwin was flummoxed , calling it " inexplicable,“The Atlanticnotes . ) However , the researcher mark that these electric fields might not be totally necessary for ballooning — wind alone might work perfectly fine on some day , too . But understanding more about when and how spiders become airborne could help us predict when there will be big masses of arachnids flying through the skies ( and blot out ) .
[ h / tThe Atlantic ]
