21 November 2008

Space voyagers



A report today from NASA that the spiders aboard the International Space Station have made great progress. In the earlier video embedded above, the orb-weavers had spun very asymmetric and disorganized webs. Today's news is that the spiders have adapted to weightlessness and have figured out how to weave a proper web.

In a related matter (but in a separate container), lepidoptera are also on board the space station, I believe as eggs and caterpillars to assess their ability to survive and undergo metamorphosis. The genus chosen was the attractively-named Vanessa genus, exemplified by the Painted Lady shown above.

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