Spiders on Drugs

[maat]

When I mention this a lot of people think of the cartoon that mocked it. But it actually happened! And every drug they gave the spiders interfered with their web making abilities.....except for LSD. LSD improved on the original structure of the web. It looked unnatural it was so perfect....mechanical. Sort of like the sense I get off acid when I take it....so perfect its cold. Mescaline interfered with the web a little, but far less so than the other drugs administered. Unfortunately these are the only psychedelics they tested, except cannabis if you consider it psychedelic. Cannabis messed with the web hard.

I really wish they had tested psilocybin as well. Probably couldn't get further funding from the government when they realized the sort of message people like myself would take from the results, lol!

This is the link.
http://www.trinity.edu/jdunn/spiderdrugs.htm

 

[exists]

Ok... but can the webs catch prey? That is the question.

This made me lol:

Spiders on marijuana made a reasonable stab at spinning webs but appeared to lose concentration about half-way through.

What bothers me is: if these stories are true, then it means spiders (and presumably many other creatures) have similar brain/neural-net receptors as humans. How can that be so? And for what (evolutionary) purpose?

 

[.:Holy::Toast:.]

Ok... but can the webs catch prey? That is the question.

This made me lol:



What bothers me is: if these stories are true, then it means spiders (and presumably many other creatures) have similar brain/neural-net receptors as humans. How can that be so? And for what (evolutionary) purpose?

I always wondered this as well, I know many insects do not have a brain but instead a central collection of nerves so I don't think insects are affected by drugs in a psychoactive fashion (the chemical may physically poison them). I do believe spiders have a brain, however I'm not sure how complex their brains are and what receptors they do have or how they would be affected by drugs.

 

[exists]

I always wondered this as well, I know many insects do not have a brain but instead a central collection of nerves so I don't think insects are affected by drugs in a psychoactive fashion (the chemical may physically poison them). I do believe spiders have a brain, however I'm not sure how complex their brains are and what receptors they do have or how they would be affected by drugs.

Me neither. But why would having a neural net preclude an organism from having the same receptors as us? I mean, it would already seem that vastly different animals (doesn't mean much coming from a earthling) react to the same psychoactive chemicals as we do. What would stop a creature with a different brain structure (net vs. centralized) from having the same (or similar) receptors?

OK, just looked up an article on the nervous systems of arachnids (http://www.findaspider.org.au/info/spiderNS.htm):

In general, spiders have a nervous system that resembles that of vertebrates except that it is much less elaborate, especially in regard to intellectual functions.

I'm guessing that they're talking about the centralized appearance of the nervous system?

The paragraphs below are an attempt to show that while spiders may have a more limited range of neurological responses to sensory input than humans they still do very well the things they need to do to survive.

Ever played with a hunting (wolf-type) spider? Those things possess a level of intelligence regarding their environment and its navigation/manipulation that most insects lack. Probably off-topic... but interesting!

Here's that article's illustration of an arachnid's nervous system. Interesting, eh?

NSFW:

 

[Solipsis]

How can that be so? And for what (evolutionary) purpose?

You probably might want to read up on subjects such as convergent evolution and divergent evolution.

@maat: If you want this thread in PD, please elaborate on the relevance to psychedelia. Honestly I did always think it was a very interesting sort of metaphor but I've seen better images than you are linking to, images that really emphasize on that web perfection.

 

[angeleyes]

I thought for speed the picture would have been white.

 

[exists]

You probably might want to read up on subjects such as convergent evolution and divergent evolution.

I get the gist of them. Still, it just seems amazing to me how we could have such similar receptors. They are small structures, sure, but on a molecular/cellular level they must be HUGE!

I thought for speed the picture would have been white.

LOL!