Oh what a tangled web they weave..because they're old?

I caught this story on my Pulse feed; and it reminded me of how cool spiders are and how much we've learned from them...

Image from the Google.com

Who's the cutest harbinger of terror?  Yes you are...Yes you are!

A recent study out of the Society for Experimental Biology compared the web-weaving abilities of a 17-day old European house spider to that of a relatively ancient 188-day old spider.  The results...well, you figure it out:

Credit: Mylène Anotaux

If it's not apparent, the younger spider's web is on the left, and the elder spider's on the right.  The investigators think that this is behavioural change is due to a breakdown of the central nervous system, something that's also seen in Alzheimer's and age-related dementia.  

You're probably thinking the same thing I was thinking when I first read about this:  those ageist bastards are trying to pigeon-hole all of the older, revered, respected spiders people in our society as a bunch of wacked-out, incapable, diaper-wearing, needy, leeches!  The nerve...

Which brings me to my first point; remembering why spiders are cool.  I scrounged up a video that I remember seeing when i was younger in - of all places - an anti-drug assembly.  This is how we know that the central nervous system of a spider is VERY important to its web-making skills.  Now, this is your spider...

And this is your spider on drugs...(watch the whole thing, it's worth it.  I'll wait.)

So you see kids, not only can we learn about aging from spiders, but we can also learn about the social pitfalls of alcohol abuse and the economic potential of crack.