Bouncing bug, spider trains for long jump
IS it a bird, is it a plane? No, it’s a female spider called Kim...and she has been trained to jump spectacular distances by scientists.
At just over half an inch (15mm) long, Kim belongs to a species that can bound up to six times their body length from a standing start. Taking-off, the force on the spider’s legs is equivalent to five times the creature’s weight.
The best a human can achieve is about one and a half body lengths. AN accountant found drunk at the wheel on the day she was due in court over another drinkdrive charge has avoided jail.
Paulina Gancarz, 34, was found slumped in her parked Mini Cooper in a lay-by five times the drink-drive limit last month.
She was arrested and bailed after giving a roadside breath test reading of 182 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – the legal limit is 35mg.
But two weeks later – on the day of her trial – she was found drunk and over three times the limit after crashing the same car near her £300,000 apartment in Wilmslow, Cheshire.
Stockport magistrates heard Gancarz was still coming to terms with a bitter divorce while trying to “escape” her overbearing mother.
The mother of one, who once ran her own accountancy firm, wept as she admitted drinkdriving and failing to provide a specimen of breath.
But she was spared jail after blaming it all on an acrimonious split with her husband which cost her £65,000 in lawyers’ was more effective for capturing prey. Longer distance jumps were slower and more energy efficient.
Insects use a combination of spring-like mechanisms, direct muscle forces and hydraulics.
Spiders are known to use hydraulics to extend their legs.
Study co-author Dr Bill Crowther praised Kim’s extraordinary performance.
He said: “Our results suggest that Kim does not need the additional power from hydraulics.”