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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: spiders

spiders stories: 9 news summaries

 Airport Nabs Brit 
 With 1,000 Spiders 

Arachnid smuggler could get jail, $2M fine

Nov 13, 09 2:05 AM CST
(Newser) - A British pet shop owner was nabbed at the airport in Rio de Janiero this week after customs officers found 1,000 live spiders in his checked baggage. Police say it's the biggest seizure of wildlife ever made at the airport. The spider-smuggler now faces up to a year in... More »

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Brazil • airport • spiders • smuggling

happy halloween

 The Most Common Phobias 

Don't like spiders and snakes? Join the club!

Oct 31, 09 3:07 PM CDT
(Newser) - In honor of Halloween, LiveScience reveals the most common phobias. If you still need a costume, you'll scare the most people by playing on their evolutionarily sensible fear of creatures with venomous fangs. The top terrors:
  1. Snakes
  2. Spiders and other "creepy crawlies"
  3. Places that are difficult to
... More »

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weather • snake • lightning • dentists • dentistry • elevator • spiders • phobias • fear of spiders • thunderstorms • flying • claustrophobia • dogs

 World's Biggest 
 Web-Spinning 
 Spidey Found 

Rare African orb-weaver spins 3-foot webs

Oct 21, 09 4:04 AM CDT
(Newser) - A gargantuan new species of orb-weaving arachnid found in South Africa is the biggest web-spinning spider ever discovered, scientists say. The female Nephila komaci has a leg span bigger than a man's hand and spins webs more than 3 feet wide, the BBC reports. Arachnophobes will be glad to hear... More »

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spiders • arachnid

(Newser) - Scientists have combined spider silk with metal atoms to boost web strands' already-phenomenal strength, reports Ars Technica. The breakthrough experiment advances the science of creating ever-stronger materials, as well discovering a successful method to bond metal to biological material. Experiments are already under way to make chicken eggs stronger. More »

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science • web • steel • science experiment • heavy metal • spiders • spider silk • biochemistry • arachnid

glossies

Look for Black Widows
in Your Grapes


Apr 3, 09 7:18 PM CDT
(Newser) - Spiders are hitching rides into grocery stores on organically grown grapes, and growers can't find a way to stop them, Gourmet reports. The problem is, spiders are helpful: They feast on bugs that feast on grapes, allowing growers to avoid pesticides. But stores from Boston to South Africa are... More »

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organic food • produce • grapes • spiders • Black Widow

 Hey Hey, My, My, It's Spider Man 

New arachnid species named for rock legend Young

May 12, 08 2:39 PM CDT
(Newser) - A new spider species has been named for rocker Neil Young, an outspoken advocate for environmental issues, Reuters reports. A biologist and Neil Young fan who discovered the species named it Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi. It's not the first such honor for a singer. A beetle was recently named Orectochilus orbisonorum after... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Alabama • Neil Young • spiders • Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi • Jason Bond • East Carolina University • Orectochilus orbisonorum • Roy Orbison • beetle

 New Tech Spins Silk 
 Like a Spider 

Process is a step towards manufacture of the super-strong material

Apr 29, 08 10:39 AM CDT
(Newser) - A German team has created a device that spins silk like a spider, producing material five times stronger than steel. The fiber produced is of poor quality, but the new process is a step toward the goal of cheap, artificial spider silk. "It adds a piece to the puzzle... More »

MORE ABOUT:
spiders • spider silk • genetic engineering

Humans Wired to Fear Snakes

Scientists find innate ability to discern slithering critters in the wild

Mar 5, 08 4:42 PM CST
(Newser) - Evolution seems to have given humans a hard-wired ability to recognize snakes and spiders, LiveScience reports. Intrigued by the widespread fear of serpents despite the fact that most humans rarely interact with them, researchers showed groups of adults and 3-year-olds natural scenes containing various hidden animals. Both groups were consistently... More »

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snakes • genes • human evolution • fear • spiders • phobias • natural selection • psychological research • fear of spiders

New Web Trend Sparks David vs. Goliath 2.0

Web giants mobilize to stop developers from 'scraping' their content

Dec 31, 07 4:14 PM CST
(Newser) - Some call it “scraping,” others call it “importing.” Either way, it’s a controversial process pitting independent software developers against the titans of the cyber world: Techies compile, or scrape, loads of data from search engines and social networking sites and pool the data on their... More »

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Google • Microsoft • eBay • Facebook • Craigslist • data • scraping • application protocol interfaces • software robots • spiders • Amazon.com

9 Stories


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