Lucas Reynard & Paul Woods

Flying Spiders
&
Spiders That May Save Your Life

SlyPrintProductions

Woods Global Deals

Contents

Contents

Introduction
A Little About Spiders
How Do Ballooning Spiders Fly
They have the capacity to fly 1,000 miles over the ocean and as high as 300 miles up into
the air
HOW SPIDERS COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE
Conclusion

References

Copyright
Introduction

A Little About Spiders

Spiders are a species of arthropods called arachnids. There are over 45,700 spider species and
are found all over the world except for Antarctica. They range in size from the smallest patu
digua which is about the size of a pin-head, to the Goliath bird-eater tarantula.

Spiders are easily identified by their characteristic eight legs. They also have chelicerae (their
mouthparts) with fangs attached to them. Many spiders are harmless, but when certain spiders
inject their venom into you, it is poisonous.They capture food by spinning an intricate web using
their own silk which is excreted through their spinnerets. Once an unsuspecting creature flies
into the web, the spider pounces on it, disables it and kills it.

Spiders, being territorial, are impossible to domesticate. So commercial silk is typically

harvested from cocoons of the silk moth. This silk is only one-third as strong and about half as
elastic as what spiders produce. Spiders, being territorial, are impossible to domesticate. So
commercial silk is typically harvested from cocoons of the silk moth.

Spider silk is the strongest natural fiber known. The most appealing type is the "dragline" that
spiders use to move about and capture its prey. Dragline silk - what Peter Parker employs while
swinging through the streets -- is six times stronger than steel and can be stretched to 50
percent of its length before it breaks.

Reproducing dragline silk has been called the Holy Grail of materials.
How Do Ballooning Spiders Fly

The phenomenon by which spiders take flight is known as ballooning. It was thought that
spiders might be using the wind to launch themselves into the air. But we now know it has to do
with electricity.

Since every day, about 40,000 thunderstorms crackle around the world, the atmosphere turns
into a giant electrical circuit. The upper portions of our Earth’s atmosphere has a positive
electrical charge, whereas our planet’s surface has a negative charge (just like the two terminals
of a battery). Even on bright, cloudless, sunny days, the air carries a voltage of around 100 volts
for every meter above the ground. Foggy or stormy days may increase the volts to tens of
thousands per meter .

"Ballooning" or “flying” spiders use this planetary electric field and wind. As their silk leaves their
bodies, the silk picks up a negative charge. The 2 negative charges, (one from the ground and
the other from the negatively charged spider’s silk) repel each other where the spider stands.
Spiders have tiny hairs on their exoskeletons that can detect this electric charge, and use it to
create lift. Spiders can increase those repelling forces by climbing onto twigs, leaves, or blades
of grass.

Plants, being earthed, have the same negative charge as the ground that they grow upon, but
they stick out into the positively charged air. This creates substantial electric fields between the
air around them and the tips of their leaves and branches—and the spiders ballooning from
those tips. Think of 2 strong magnets trying to join but being repelled by the 2 same charges.

Before the spider is ready to take off, it releases about 50 tiny strands of silk. These strands
stay attached to the spider and act like a sail, ready to whisk away the spider to far away lands.
When a particularly strong gust comes along, the spider lets go of its anchor strands and flies
away.
When a spider wants to travel long distances, it simply casts out a strand of silk, captures the
breeze and "flies" away.

They are known to travel hundreds of miles, even ending up on islands in the middle of the
ocean.

They have the capacity to fly 1,000 miles over the ocean and as
high as 300 miles up into the air

The mystery of how spiders can fly for thousands of miles even in the absence of wind may
have an electrifying solution. Experts believe arachnids make use of charge in the atmosphere
to power their journeys.

Biologists from the University of Bristol found the answer lies in the Atmospheric Potential
Gradient (APG), a global electric circuit that is always present in the atmosphere. APGs and
electric fields (e-field) surrounding all matter, and bumblebees can detect e-fields arising
between themselves and flowers.

Researchers exposed Linyphiid spiders to lab-controlled e-fields that were equivalent to those
found in the atmosphere. They noticed that switching the e-field on and off caused the spider to
move upwards or downwards respectively.

The latest research shows arachnids can make use of electrostatic charges in the atmosphere
to power their journeys.This force, known as the e-field, can be detected by many insects and is
used by honeybees to communicate with the hive.
Spider silk has long been known as an effective electric insulator, but until now, it wasn't thought
spiders could detect and respond to e-fields in a similar way to bees.

Research from the Technical University of Berlin shows how these tiny spiders measure the
wind and secure themselves before launching into the breeze.

Many species of spider exhibit this kind of parachuting/windsurfing behavior, which is properly
called "ballooning."

Young spiders, born in nests of hundreds or thousands, use this technique to spread over a
larger area.

Researcher Moonsung Cho studied one of these species, the crab spider. Crab spiders are one
of the largest species that exhibit ballooning behavior, which makes them one of the easiest to
study. Cho put some spiders on an outdoor mound during a windy day to observe how they
went about flying away.

The experiment paid off, as Cho got some impeccable footage of these spiders ballooning. His
research shows that when spiders prepare to take off, they first secure themselves to the
ground with a few strands of silk. Then, they test the winds by lifting one arm into the air.

Discovery of flight by electrostatic repulsion—was first addressed in the early 1800s, during the
time of Darwin’s voyage. In fact, it was naturalist Charles Darwin who first encountered these
flying spiders on his voyage across South America on the HMS Beagle. He noticed that
gossamer spiders were landing on his ship and magically soaring up into the air, even in calm
weather.

Peter Gorham, a physicist, resurrected the idea in 2013, and showed that it was mathematically
plausible. And now, Morley and Robert have tested it with actual spiders.

First, they showed that spiders can detect electric fields.

They put the spiders on vertical strips of cardboard in the center of a plastic box, and then
generated electric fields between the floor and ceiling of similar strengths to what the spiders
would experience outdoors. These fields ruffled tiny sensory hairs on the spiders’ feet, known as
trichobothria move in response to electric fields. It’s like when you rub a balloon and hold it up to
your hairs.

In reaction, the spiders made a set of movements called tiptoeing— standing on the ends of
their legs with their abdomens stuck up in the air. That behavior is only ever seen before
ballooning.

Many of the spiders actually managed to take off, despite being in closed boxes with no airflow
within them. And when Morley turned off the electric fields inside the boxes, the ballooning
spiders dropped. So, spiders can become airborne in the absence of wind when subjected to
the electrical field.

Scientists used sealed tanks with electromagnetic fields in them. They then placed baby spiders
inside the tank, and noted that the spiders were able to balloon easily when the electromagnetic
fields were stronger.

How do spiders achieve this remarkable feat? They test the air with one of their eight legs. The
ideal condition for flying is a light wind and a little humidity. Again, as they start to lift off, they
tiptoe ever so slightly while lifting their abdomens. Throughout the process, the spiders will
produce silk that can reach an impressive six feet in length! As the silk picks up a negative
charge, they lift off. They can coast up to three miles on land, and a thousand miles over the
ocean. They can even fly as high as planes in the upper atmosphere!

It’s especially important, says Angela Chuang, from the University of Tennessee, to know that
spiders can physically detect electrostatic changes in their surroundings. “[That’s] the foundation
for lots of interesting research questions,” she says. “How do various electric-field strengths
affect the physics of takeoff, flight, and landing? Do spiders use information on atmospheric
conditions to make decisions about when to break down their webs, or create new ones?”

They also discovered that spiders have very little influence where they're flown when caught in a
stiff wind.

A new study points out that the 20-year-old model for spider "ballooning"—which assumed that
spider silk is rigid and straight and spiders just hang at the bottom—was flawed when applied in
moving, turbulent air.

This suggested spiders can feel the charge in the air using the same sensory hairs used to
detect a breeze. It seems likely a combination of both drag and atmospheric electric fields were
at play in getting these insect aviators into the air.

Researchers at Rothamsted Research redesigned the model to allow for elasticity and flexibility
in the spider's dragline, its most sturdy line of silk used for moving about and catching prey.
When the dragline is caught in a turbulent breeze, it becomes highly contorted, catching air like
an open parachute and sending the spider on an unknown journey.

The spider has virtually no control of where or how far it travels by this means, said Andy
Reynolds, a Rothamsted Research scientist. This is how a "ballooning" spider can end up in the
ocean hundreds of miles from shore. In more calm breezes, though, spiders can drift just a few
yards to invade new territory or surprise prey. Some tiny spiders can use their silk strands to
surf on the wind.

In 2002, scientists at Nexia Biotechnologies produced spider silk proteins in cells from a
mammal. The proteins were then spun into silky threads. Uri Gat, a biologist at the Hebrew
University in Jerusalem, is as close to a real Spider-Man as they come. Gat and his colleagues
have produced spider web fibers in a lab -- without spiders.
In a feat of genetic engineering that could one day result in tough new industrial materials and
commercial products, Gat's team genetically engineered spider web silk. They did it by injecting
the silk-making genes of a common garden spider into the cultured cells of a caterpillar.

The Nexia research was supported by the U.S. Army, which is interested in producing dragline
silk for better armor, tethers and bulletproof vests. It could also improve surgical threads,
micro-conductors, optical fibers and the clothes on your back, says Gat, whose team moved a
step closer to the goal by creating self-assembling spider web fibers.

Dragline silk is made primarily of two proteins, called ADF-3 and ADF-4. These are produced in
a gland in the spider's abdomen, using the same amino acids that your body uses to produce
skin and hair. ADF-4 allows for the rapid production of fiber, and ADF-3 regulates this
production. Each protein is made by a specific gene.

Gat's team put these genes into a genetically engineered virus, then let the virus infect the
cultured caterpillar cells.

The cells produced silk proteins, and then spider fibers formed spontaneously in the petri dish.
But there's a hitch. The lab fibers included only the ADF-4 protein. Still, the fibers were identical
to real draglines in chemical resistance and diameter -- about one-tenth the width of a human
hair.

Spider silk is the strongest natural fiber known. The most appealing type is the "dragline" that
spiders use to move about and snag prey. Dragline silk -- what Peter Parker employs while
swinging through the streets -- is six times stronger than steel and can be stretched to 50
percent of its length before it breaks.

"Spiders are key predators of insects and can alleviate the need for farmers to spray large
quantities of pesticide,"

Reynolds said. "But they can only perform this function in the ecosystem if they arrive at the
right time." Better understanding how spiders travel long distances could help scientists control
farmland pests.
HOW SPIDERS COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE

Taken from a TED Talk given by Dr. Michael Bransen.

“The secrets of venomous spiders”:

It took spiders over 400 million years to become what they are today. One of the the most
versatile, diverse and evolved group of predators to ever walk this earth. Venomous spiders
wouldn’t have evolved without those abilities.

The venoms are made up of hundreds of chemical compounds. And all of those compounds
have evolved for purely one purpose, to disable and eventually kill.

Venom can have reactions like feeling pains that you’ve never felt before. Venom can also
make your heart stop within minutes or it can turn your blood into jelly. Venom can paralyze
almost instantly or it can eat your flesh away like acid.

Despite being gruesome, a spider’s venom could be extremely powerful as we learn how to use
those chemicals to man’s benefit.

For example, creating new antibiotics using that venom, or assist people suffering from diabetes
or high blood pressure. In fact, all of these adaptations are already being developed by
scientists all around the world.

High Blood pressure ​is already being controlled by all the toxin produced from a South
American viper.

Type II Diabetes​ is already being treated by the toxins from a North American lizard.
In hospitals around the world, a new protocol is being used to produce toxins from venomous
snails that are being used ​as an anesthetic​.

Venom is one of those substances from which there are ​hundreds of chemical compounds
from a variety of venomous creatures.

Spider have been found to contain over ​10 million compounds​ that potentially can be used for
therapeutic purposes. Many are completely unknown and are just waiting to be harvested and
investigated. ​Only 0.01 % have been investigated thus far.

Scientists have concentrated on charismatic animals like vipers, scorpions, cobras, and black
widows. But, normal everyday spiders that live all around us have many of these compounds…
just waiting for discovery and health-related applications for humans.

Removing a spider’s venom can be completely harmless to the spider who, after collecting their
venom, can be released back into the wild.

But it takes hundreds of spiders just to product a single rain drop of venom.

Once obtained (a completely harmless process to the spider), the venom is frozen and put into
a machine to separate every single chemical compound.

It is a very small amount… a 1/10th of a millionth of a liter of compound. But that compound can
be diluted several thousand times and test it against a whole range of nasty stuff, like cancer
cells or bacteria.
A common spider can produce chemical compounds that actually have strong anti-microbial
properties or that ​can neutralize anti-biotic resistant antibiotics.

Sadly, every single day, about 1,700 people die because of anti-microbial resistant infections.
Multiplied by 356 days, and you reach a number of approximately 700,00 people who die every
year, because compound that were capable of killing 10, 15, or 20 years ago are no longer able
to kill anti-microbial bugs of today.

Indeed, the world is running out of effective antibiotics and science does not have any answer or
weapon to address that concern. 30 years ago, 10-15 new antibiotics would hit the market every
couple of years.. ​But in the last 5 years, the number of new antibiotics is a paltry 2!

In fact, if we continue this way, we are a few decades from being ​completely helpless from new
deadly infections,​ just like we were before the invention of penicillin 90 year ago.

So, we are at war with an invisible enemy that attacks and adapts a lot quicker than we do.

And in that war, ​the spider might be the secret weapon!

Just 1/ 2 liter of diluted venom, diluted 10,000 times, are capable of killing most bacteria that
are resistant to any other kinds of antibiotics.
Conclusion

Please watch some of the videos in the references to actually watch spiders get ready and
fly….some have amazing footage. We hoped you have learned all about ballooning (flying)
spiders and are as impressed with this ability as we are. The venomous spiders whose toxins
are just in its infancy of being discovered, are already being used to medicinally treat serious
human illnesses and help keep us healthy, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and used an
an anesthetic These discoveries and adaptations learned from studying spiders are just the
bare surface of their potential... especially since they effectively kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria
and food plant-destroying insects. Spiders are indeed an evolutionary marvel that could one day
literally save your life.
References
https://www.livescience.com/4142-spiders-fly-hundreds-miles.html
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/animals/a21565320/amazing-footage-reveals-how-
spiders-fly/
https://hmg.h-cdn.co/videos/hj46oois5bs5l2rczvd9-1529088301.mp4
retty Images of spiders getting ready to fly
https://videos.dailymail.co.uk/preview/mol/2018/07/04/2881200536351980704/636x382_MP4_2
881200536351980704.
mp4
https://www.youngzine.org/news/our-earth/how-do-spiders-fly
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=how+do+spider
+fly&id=FB117E914CDEF9BF0E22F59D9D90892C2C5F7E7E&FORM=IQFRBA
Video on how spiders fly by using silk
https://youtu.be/VDL9VxLqdvw
Sources: Fortune, PBS, The Atlantic, Wikipedia, NYTimes, Cosmos Magazine
https://youtu.be/VDL9VxLqdvw
How Spiders Use Silk to Fly | ScienceTake
https://youtu.be/jN4BSHyHvvw
Incredible Footage Captures How Spiders Fly
Source: 6/26/2018 NYT
https://videos.dailymail.co.uk/preview/mol/2018/07/05/1202743559646232668/636x382_MP4_1
20274355964623266
8.mp4
https://youtu.be/vKPbxcK58a
https://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/spiders-electrical-fields-flying/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5918477/Electric-fields-atmosphere-secret-spide
rs-FLY-thousands-miles.html
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/fb-5921077/HOW-SPIDERS-FLY.html
Morley, E. L. and D. Robert 2018 Electrical fields elicit ballooning in spiders, Current Biology,
28: 2324-2330.
“Spiders use electricity to catch prey and airborne particulates.” IFLScience! Accessed
November 6, 2018.
Yong, Ed. “Spiders Can Fly Hundreds of Miles Using Electricity.” The Atlantic: Science. July 5,
2018. Accessed November 6, 2018.
​https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/08/150818-spiders-animals-science-flying-forests/
​https://youtu.be/VQ1GkESZgWQ
https://thekidsshouldseethis.com/post/flying-spiders-electric-feild
Copyright
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Published by Lucas Reynard of ​SPP (SlyPrintProductions) © ​2019 Florida in association with

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