this is your spider on drugs.

March 18, 2002 5:41 PM

this is your spider on drugs. got it? as a dedicated coke-a-holic (cola) what wigs me out is the caffeine example! (thanks to the fabulous toadie for the link.)
posted by centrs (26 comments total)

This thing's been around for a while. (No, I'm not accusing of a double post.) I had forgotten about it though, so thank you for bringing it back to my attention.

The LSD spider-web looks like he got lazy, just said "screw it" and decided to look at the pretty lights.
posted by Dark Messiah at 5:43 PM on March 18, 2002

Where's the one where she tries to save the pig?
posted by ColdChef at 5:51 PM on March 18, 2002

heh.
posted by centrs at 5:54 PM on March 18, 2002

I'd like to know a leetle bit more about this "experiment" before I gave it any credence.
posted by argybarg at 6:45 PM on March 18, 2002

i tried to look up some information but for some reason the sites were in dutch. ;)
posted by centrs at 6:58 PM on March 18, 2002

Agreed. I'm not too sure of the impartiality of their research.
posted by yhbc at 6:59 PM on March 18, 2002

It's nice to know that insects (anthropods) have such similar neurological and physiological makeups to humans that we can base scientific research on them.
posted by geoff. at 7:20 PM on March 18, 2002

i think that was their point. if it's true it's interesting. if not, it's amusing as an example of the lengths someone will go to to defend their sacred cow. (cannabis)
posted by centrs at 7:22 PM on March 18, 2002

What it doesn't say is that the caffeine web was built in 20 minutes, but the hash web took 4 days.
posted by Salmonberry at 7:27 PM on March 18, 2002

"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom."
(William Blake) I loved all those crazy posters! And salmonberrys 20 minutes/4 days comment...well, yah, sure.
posted by Mack Twain at 7:50 PM on March 18, 2002

You know, my Grandfather was famous for doing those spider experiments, although he used fluids taken from schizophrenics rather than Caffeine. He spent a lot of time finding the spider that created the most regular web in the world, and he couldn't due to customs. But one day he was down by the docks and there was a boat from where these spiders hail from and lo and behold, there were some on the hull of the ship. So he bred them and used them and did some important research on various things.

Oh, and in conclusion, Caffeine is peanuts compared to Schizophrenia.
posted by Settle at 8:20 PM on March 18, 2002

Tell more, Settle. I do remember the pictures from the old Time/Life books, although I'm still not sure what they really prove, without knowing more about the research, controls, etc., behind them.
posted by yhbc at 8:25 PM on March 18, 2002

You know, my Grandfather was famous for doing those spider experiments, although he used fluids taken from schizophrenics rather than Caffeine. He spent a lot of time finding the spider that created the most regular web in the world, and he couldn't due to customs. But one day he was down by the docks and there was a boat from where these spiders hail from and lo and behold, there were some on the hull of the ship. So he bred them and used them and did some important research on various things.

Oh, and in conclusion, Caffeine is peanuts compared to Schizophrenia.
posted by Settle at 8:27 PM on March 18, 2002

Tell more, Settle. I do remember the pictures from the old Time/Life books, although I'm still not sure what they really prove, without knowing more about the research, controls, etc., behind them.
posted by sylloge at 8:32 PM on March 18, 2002

wow. it's like a mirror in a mirror in a mirror ...
posted by yhbc at 8:36 PM on March 18, 2002

I'd like to know a leetle bit more about this "experiment" before I gave it any credence.
posted by argybarg at 9:03 PM on March 18, 2002

heh.
posted by centrs at 9:10 PM on March 18, 2002

Where's the one where she tries to save the pig?
posted by ColdChef at 9:51 PM on March 18, 2002

I'm reminded of this thread.
posted by bingo at 10:33 PM on March 18, 2002

Looks like I picked the wrong day to stop drinking Coke!
posted by Kikkoman at 11:45 PM on March 18, 2002

fluids taken from schizophrenics?
posted by glennie at 1:33 AM on March 19, 2002

i have this weird image of settle's grandfather furiously chasing schizophrenics around and around the hospital ward like they're playing tag and he's 'it'. why do the schizophrenics run? they know that he's trying to steal their bottles of mountain dew™. eventually, he catches one of them and wrests the bottle from the patient's clenched fingers. grandpa settle then begins cackling and repeatedly yelling 'i have the floo-EEEEED! i...have...the...floo-EEEEED!'
posted by mlang at 6:24 AM on March 19, 2002

It must have been around 1995, I certainly remember reading an article with photos similiar to these in The Times (UK), so this certainly isn't recent science. One of the other post-grad students at college thought it was funny and stuck it on the office wall. Can't remember any of the detail, though.
posted by normy at 7:16 AM on March 19, 2002

Apparently, neither can Settle.
posted by yhbc at 7:27 AM on March 19, 2002

Would a schizophrenic's precious bodily fluids really affect a spider's ability to reason? I'm guessing that unless the spider had a reaction to any medications that might be in the schizophrenic's system, the spider's neurological system is going to be sufficiently different from a person's as to not react to any "fluids" extracted from the brain or elsewhere.
posted by bshort at 9:17 AM on March 19, 2002

as a dedicated coke-a-holic (cola) what wigs me out is the caffeine example!

Not so into cokeahol myself, but my favorite babies (coffee & chocolate) contain caffeine too, so basically, I'm just glad I'm not a spider.

only for this reason, of course. otherwise, that would rock.
posted by mdn at 10:59 AM on March 19, 2002