So I’m not a big fan of spiders, unless it’s Spider-Man, but some scientists felt in their infinite wisdom to use a spider as part of a new field dubbed “necrobotics” that uses a spider corpse like a hydraulic machine to grip things.
Okay, the name is great. I mean, it’s really great. I wish I would have thought of it, but if I did, it would be to tell a horror story where things go terribly wrong. Come on, how does reanimating spiders in any form turn into something good?
One of the mechanical engineers, Faye Yap, said that the idea was born from the question, “Why do spiders curl up when they die?”
It’s funny because I always thought it was to let us know that they’re dead—guess I was wrong. 😂
It got me thinking about a prank a buddy of mine used to do at the theater he worked at during Arachnophobia screenings. If you don’t know, or can’t tell from the title, it’s a horror movie about spiders. Well, he’d wait until the scene where a cascade of spiders were falling from the ceiling, and he’d toss a bunch of fake spiders onto the crowd. I could hear the screams from outside the auditorium.
Yes, I know, that’s pretty messed up, but think about how much money you spend to go to immersive experience type of things nowadays, and really, he was giving you that type of experience for free. I certainly wouldn’t have wanted it, but when it comes to pranks, I gotta give it to him.
Now take this “necrobotics” and combine it with some sort of immersive experience, like a haunt, and you’ll have a truly scary experience for a lot of us out there.
Forget the guy coming at me with a huge knife or chainsaw. This might be the one thing that could make me run out of there screaming like a little girl.
Way to go scientists, you literally took my biggest fear and made it come true.
Learn how your nightmares are being brought to life: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/dead-wolf-spiders-robots-necrobots
Until next time, enjoy the thought of robotic spiders!
Joe
Your friendly neighborhood 🕷 😳 😱 🏃 😬 Man
P.S. Science is still awesome!
P.P.S. If you want to read a spider thriller, check out my brother’s book Tangled Web.