Google autocomplete reminds us that they always act like they own the place.

Spiders… is a post from: The Inquisitr

Seems Reasonable is a post from: The Inquisitr

While this might still be out there on the fringes, and with a lot of bugs to be worked out, this could be a pretty interesting medical development.

What researchers at Pennsylvania State University are trying to do is to create a spider-like micromachine that could swim through a person’s blood vessels and heal any damages and delivering drugs; and they believe that they have found a basis for being able to do that.

Right now they have managed to create a beginning point that uses spheres less than a micrometre wide which is made of two halves – one half is gold and the other is silica; and using something called a Grubbs catalyst to help create the method of movement.

To turn the spheres into motors, the group attached a Grubbs catalyst – a molecule that builds long chains of smaller molecules – to the silica side. When Sen drops his spheres into a solvent containing the chemical norbornene, the catalyst spins a polymer from molecules of the chemical. Eventually there are far more unpolymerised single molecules of norbornene around the gold side of the sphere than the silica side , creating an osmotic gradient, as fluids will always move from a region with lots of particles to a region with fewer particles. The solvent rushes toward the gold side of the sphere, causing the whole sphere to move.

Sen’s group were able to control the direction of the spheres’ movement by placing lumps of gel soaked in norbornene at one corner of the tank of solvent. The thread-spinning spheres followed the trail of leached norbornene towards the gels.

via New Scientist

The next step for the researchers is to develop versions of this tiny spider that can use chemicals already found in the human body to power their movement.

I’m pretty sure that all you arachnophobes can chill out now as this will take some time to figure out, so you’re safe for now.

In the future we might have microspiders in our blood to fix blood vessels is a post from: The Inquisitr

I usually like writing about some of the cooler science and technology that I find on any given day but sometimes the stuff that I run across scares the hell out of me and this is one of those posts.

You see, I wrote the other day about humans soon having the ability to embed electronic circuits in our skin, nicely referred to as electronic tattoos, and how that just weirded me out. Well that was nothing compared to this little gem from out of the Netherlands.

It seems that Jalila Essaidi is trying to take the milk from genetically modified “spider goats” and somehow use it to make our skin bulletproof.

First let’s clear up this whole genetically modified “spider goat milk” thing.

This all starts because man has been trying to find ways to be able to harvest large quantities of spider silk because of its incredible tensile strength but given they are so small in quantity it is a problem. Enter researchers at the University of Wyoming who have been experimenting with adding the “spiders” dragline silk gene into goats in such a way that goats will only make the protein in their milk.

Then the idea is to be able to extract the protein from the milk and thereby have usable spider silk, and in large quantities.

Now comes the bulletproof part

The project is called “2.6g 329m/s,” as 2.6 grams and 326 meters a second are “the maximum weight and velocity of a .22 calibre Long Rifle bullet from which a Type 1 bulletproof vest should protect you,” according to Essaidi. Essaidi isn’t looking to create a better bulletproof vest, however. Her prototype, pictured above, is a wafer formed by sandwiching a spider silk matrix between two layers of human tissue.

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Essaidi’s bulletproof human project is still very much in the conceptual phases, and her prototype isn’t completely stopping bullets all the time, but it’s definitely an alluring thought. Essaidi’s plans are ultimately much more grand, too — she’d like to replace the keratin in our skin with spider silk, so that our bodies (and not some outer layer we’re wearing) could stop a speeding bullet.

via DVICE

It’s no wonder I love my job.

Combine genetically modified spider goat milk with human skin and become bulletproof is a post from: The Inquisitr

So now while you are battling crippling fear, you can also experience crushing guilt.

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[Pic] A Spider’s Last Thoughts is a post from: The Inquisitr

Adversity. Impossible odds make achievements even more satisfying.

Adversity is a post from: The Inquisitr

The dangers of spiders on drugs. This video is hilarious. Check out the results of scientists providing spiders with minute traces of THC, caffeine, cocaine, alcohol and LSD.

The spider on THC didn’t make a web, it made a hammock, and lazed all day watching the spider on caffeine.

Yes we know its not real. The give away is the spider on crack putting a cap in the ass of the spider on caffeine.

Spiders on drugs is a post from: The Inquisitr