ScienceDaily: Spider and Tick News

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03/14/10--12:09: Silk structure analysis explains paradox of super-strength; could lead to even stronger synthetic materials (chan 1615582)

Spiders and silkworms are masters of materials science, but scientists are finally catching up. Silks are among the toughest materials known, stronger and less brittle, pound for pound, than steel. Now scientists have unraveled some of their deepest secrets in research that could lead the way to the creation of synthetic materials that duplicate, or even exceed, the extraordinary properties of natural silk.


04/05/10--12:25: New insects, bacteria uncovered in dinosaur-era amber deposit (chan 1615582)

A 95-million-year-old amber deposit -- the first major discovery of its kind from the African continent -- has been analyzed. This deposit may provide fresh insights into the rise and diversification of flowering plants during the Cretaceous.


04/05/10--12:25: Eating like a bird helps forests grow (chan 1615582)

Lions, tigers and bears top the ecological pyramid -- the diagram of the food chain that every school child knows. A new study examines complex interactions in the middle of the pyramid, where birds, bats and lizards consume insects. These predators indirectly benefit plants, scientists report.


05/03/10--13:14: Birth defect risk from insect bites received by mother during pregnancy (chan 1615582)

Researchers have discovered that bacteria transmitted by fleas -- and potentially ticks -- can be passed to human babies by the mother, causing chronic infections and raising the possibility of bacterially induced birth defects.


05/12/10--10:15: Investigating how spiders spin their silk, researchers unravel a key step (chan 1615582)

Scientists in Germany have unraveled a decisive step in nature's way of producing spider silk. With industrial partners, they are working toward biomimetic production of synthetic fibers with comparable strength and elasticity. The researchers report how spider silk proteins can be stored in high concentrations without clumping and then drawn at a moment's notice into fibers with five times the tensile strength of steel.


05/12/10--10:15: Spiders at the nanoscale: Molecules that behave like robots (chan 1615582)

A team of scientists has programmed an autonomous molecular "robot" made out of DNA to start, move, turn, and stop while following a DNA track. The development could ultimately lead to molecular systems that might be used for medical therapeutic devices and molecular-scale reconfigurable robots -- robots made of many simple units that can reposition or even rebuild themselves to accomplish different tasks.


05/14/10--12:18: How spiders create silk threads: Lowering pH regulates spider’s silk production, researchers find (chan 1615582)

How can a tiny spider body contain material for several decimeters of gossamer silk, and what governs the conversion to thread? Researchers in Sweden can now explain this process.


06/07/10--03:58: Tick bacteria evade the immune system by variation in surface proteins (chan 1615582)

Scientists have shown that antigenic variation occurs in the tick bacterium Anaplasma phagocytophilum in cases of prolonged infection in lambs. In addition, certain varieties of tick bacteria lead to a prolonged infection of varying levels for at least six months and that the skin can act as a storage depot for bacteria.


06/07/10--07:16: Desperate female spiders fight by different rules (chan 1615582)

In most animals the bigger, better fighter usually wins. But a new study of the jumping spider Phidippus clarus suggests that size and skill aren't everything -- what matters for Phidippus females is how badly they want to win.


07/20/10--13:55: Need for protection against ticks that carry Lyme disease confirmed by new research (chan 1615582)

Research on the population of black-legged ticks, which can transmit Lyme disease from host animals to humans, reinforces that it is important to take preventative measures when spending time outdoors.


07/22/10--11:48: Invaluable inteins (chan 1615582)

It's the ugly duckling story of the molecular world. Intein, thought two decades ago to be nothing more than a molecular parasite or a harmless hitchhiker, is today an invaluable tool in the ever-important field of protein research.


07/27/10--09:19: Native-like spider silk produced in metabolically engineered bacteria (chan 1615582)

Biomolecular engineers have developed technology to artificially create spider dragline silk proteins that can be used to make ultra-strong synthetic fibers and bulletproof vests.


08/02/10--19:17: Why are male spiders small while females are giant? (chan 1615582)

'Bridging', an unusual mode of getting around frequently used by vegetation-inhabiting spiders to cross large gaps, may partly explain the tendency for male spiders to be much smaller than females. Researchers studied bridging, in which spiders use the wind to carry a strand of web to their destination and then clamber upside down along the resulting bridge, finding that small size was associated with a greater ability to carry out the maneuver.


09/29/10--11:21: Scientists genetically engineer silkworms to produce artificial spider silk (chan 1615582)

Researchers have succeeded in producing transgenic silkworms capable of spinning artificial spider silks.


09/30/10--08:22: Need to undertake epidemiological monitoring programs for ticks confirmed (chan 1615582)

Researchers have undertaken a study of ticks, tick-borne diseases and the reservoirs of tick-borne pathogens, which has confirmed the importance of continuous surveillance programs to monitor these arthropods.


10/11/10--14:32: Invasive honeysuckle increase risk of tick-borne disease in suburbs (chan 1615582)

We often read about dreadful new zoonoses -- animal diseases that are now infecting people -- that have jumped species in distant parts of the world such as Asia or Africa and are now headed our way. But Missouri has its own new zoonoses, tick-borne diseases whose spread is encouraged by pest species such as white-tailed deer and invasive plants such as bush honeysuckle. In Missouri as in Africa or Asia, the loss of a biodiversity takes a toll in human health.


10/29/10--12:27: Dracula orchids and goblin spiders (chan 1615582)

Observation of fruit flies pollinating Dracula orchids and discovery of over two dozen new goblin spiders: two recent publications from invertebrate zoologists provide a timely bit of natural history.


11/02/10--13:40: Getting rid of cattle fever ticks (chan 1615582)

Scientists at the US Department of Agriculture have developed two strategies to ward off cattle fever ticks that are crossing the border from Mexico into the United States.


12/02/10--16:43: Biologist tracks spiders' eyes to learn how tiny brains process information (chan 1615582)

Over the next year, spiders watching videos of their prey are going to help biologists understand how animals choose which visual elements to attend to in their environments. She believes we are on the verge of gaining important new knowledge about how brains and specialized sensory systems work together to process visual information.


12/16/10--16:05: More than 100 new species described by California Academy of Sciences in 2010 (chan 1615582)

In an effort to address the critical need for data about the diversity of life on Earth, scientists from the California Academy of Sciences have spent the past year exploring some of the planet's most diverse habitats, searching for new species and creating comprehensive biodiversity maps. In 2010, they have added 113 new relatives to our family tree: 83 arthropods, 20 fishes, four corals, two sea slugs, two plants, one reptile, and one fossil mammal.