When Spiders Are Given Drugs, They Make Different Webs
WouterWhen spiders are given drugs, they make webs that are a lot different than those that aren’t. The size and shape of the web change, and the webs are often deformed. These changes are seen as a measure of the amount of toxicity in the drugs.
Several researchers have attempted to use spiders as a test for drugs. The first to do so was German zoologist H.M. Peters in 1948. His research was focused on orb-web spiders. He noticed that these spiders didn’t always follow a sleep schedule.
Other studies have examined the effects of caffeine, marijuana and sleeping drugs on spiders. They’ve found that caffeine, when used at high dosages, causes irregular, chaotic and uneven webs. It also makes the spiders ineffective food gatherers. Similarly, depressants have a similar effect.
Another study, which was published in the journal NASA Tech Briefs in 1995, was done by a group of scientists. They studied the effects of caffeine, marijuana and benzedrine on spiders. They also looked at the cellular structures of each web and measured its regularity. The results of their experiment were qualitatively the same as those of Witt’s.
In addition, they used the same drugs that Witt had. For example, chloral hydrate, a sedative used in insomnia remedies, was fed to spiders. These results were quantitatively analyzed with modern statistical tools.
While the experiments showed that spiders could be used as a way to assess drug poisoning in humans, they aren’t conclusive. Moreover, a number of the drugs were ineffective.
