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i’ll take this balloon
rub it against my head to generate some
static electricity
and this small piece of plastic to
represent an organism
and do the same
to make that organism fly
but which type of creature could travel
around the world
using static electricity
well brand new science by the university
of bristol
has uncovered how one surprising animal
has conquered the skies
would you believe spiders
can fly
at first it might seem they just float
on the wind
but these smart spiders are actually
tapping into the earth’s electric fields
there are different levels of
electricity in the air produced
naturally by thunderstorms around the
planet
amazingly the tiny hairs on a spider’s
body
can sense these and use them to get
around
called ballooning they’ll start by
tiptoeing
sticking up their back legs into the air
and unraveling strings of web
until their spider senses detect the
electrical
fields
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as their silk is negatively charged it
repels
negative charges in the air generating a
force strong enough
to launch them skywards
not all spiders can balloon but those
that can
likely use both wind and electricity
sailing along on their silk lines
wherever the wind
takes them an almost
effortless way to travel
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but why would a small spider take to the
skies
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well flying may be part of a clever
strategy
helping them to avoid competition start
a new colony
or even find more food in fact
their silk superhighway is so successful
some tiny travelers have been found an
astonishing
1 000 miles out at sea and up to two and
a half miles high in the air
so these airborne arachnids certainly do
get around
but whether they can control their
altitude and choose where they’re
landing
is something scientists are still trying
to find out
