Would you be a good dead spider and grab that for me?
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
How come when spiders die, their legs curl up all nasty?
Ask Te Faye Yap and team from Rice University!
They learned that spiders DON’T use muscles to extend their legs. It’s fluid from their circulatory system! When they die, pressure is lost and their legs curl up like a claw.
This gave the team an idea. They attached syringes – yes – to dead spiders and pushed fluid in and out. These creepy claws were strong enough to pull wires out of a circuit!
The researchers believe they could be used to assemble microelectronics and collect specimens!
You know… just in case we ever… run out of tweezers.
Reference: Yap, T. F., Liu, Z., Rajappan, A., Shimokusu, T. J., & Preston, D. J. (2022). Necrobotics: Biotic Materials as Ready to Use Actuators. Advanced Science, 2201174.