Biology trumps astronomy, again!
Category: Humor
Posted on: December 13, 2007 1:14 PM, by PZ Myers
Your puny space shuttles are as toys to our powerful invertebrate overlords.
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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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Comments
Looks a bit like the two-inch long spider I felt crawling along my inner thigh inside my sweat pants the other day.
Kinda freaked me out a little.
Posted by: craig | December 13, 2007 1:22 PM
I'd like to point out that one of the Bad Astronomer's best posts of the year is up today.
Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2007
http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2007/12/13/top-ten-astronomy-pictures-of-2007/
Posted by: Christianjb | December 13, 2007 1:24 PM
Oh I don't know... I'd rather look at a beautiful galaxy, nebula, or star cluster through a telescope than a disgusting bug through a microscope any day.
Posted by: Jere | December 13, 2007 1:28 PM
Bugs aren't disgusting. I spent an entire summer counting mosquitoes from traps, and I can tell you there were a lot of amazing insects and such that got into the traps along with them.
Posted by: thadd | December 13, 2007 1:35 PM
What's more, being able to vertically straight up in the air
the spider has conquered gravity.
Posted by: Adrian | December 13, 2007 1:40 PM
"Oh I don't know... I'd rather look at a beautiful galaxy, nebula, or star cluster through a telescope than a disgusting bug through a microscope any day."
I appreciate observing astronomical bodies, too -- although I don't think I'll ever do so using Phil "Skepdude" Plait's telescope!
I feel compelled to point out, however, as someone who spends 8+ hours per day every day looking at insects and other invertebrates through a microscope, I have yet to find one I would call disgusting.
All hail our new arachnid overlords!
Posted by: ABR | December 13, 2007 2:13 PM
Craig [#1] - actually, it probably wasn't that big. Its silhouette and behavior are very suggestive of it being a jumping spider, like this one (the grid squares are one millimeter, so it is only about a quarter of an inch long).
Posted by: tceisele | December 13, 2007 2:40 PM
Oh yeah, that's a salticid for sure. Even I, a lonely astronomy type, can see that.
Posted by: Johnny Vector | December 13, 2007 2:44 PM
@PZ:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=hr110-847
We've apparently passed a House Resolution "supporting Christianity." Fun, ain't it?
Posted by: James Stein | December 13, 2007 3:00 PM
Okay I'll admit that what may be gross and icky to me may be fascinating to someone else and that's okay. My wife for example is grossed out by rodents but I find them cute. My whole point was that while I could spend hours looking through a telescope, I'd just as soon avoid creepy crawlies. It was just a reaction to the "Biology trumps Astronomy again" headline.
Posted by: Jere | December 13, 2007 3:04 PM
Hey! Don't confuse what the Shuttle does these days with astronomy. The only astronomy mission left is the one next year to service Hubble.
And laying claim to spiders is a stretch for you, my cephalopodulous friend.
Posted by: Phil Plait | December 13, 2007 3:05 PM
Not least of all becauce giant spiders come from space and/or exposure to cosmic radiation.
Posted by: Dustin | December 13, 2007 3:26 PM
Well, tceisele, I wish you could identify the spider that was in my pants. Sucker was bigger than anything I've seen around here before. Tried to identify it by looking online, go basically nowhere, though I did figure out it was probably a "she."
Kept it in a jar for a couple days trying to figure out how to let it go outside without it freezing. After a while I decided she was pretty beautiful. Long hairy legs, the way it moved etc. looked like a mini-tarantula.
Posted by: craig | December 13, 2007 3:33 PM
Craig: Did you try using the spider ID pages at BugGuide? It's really useful for getting at least some idea what kind of spider you have. Also, where are you located? If you are in the general vicinity of Michigan, at a wild guess I'd say there's a good chance it was a European House Spider, a Wolf Spider, or maybe one of the north american Funnel-Web Weaver Spiders. All harmless, of course. Those are the biggest, fuzziest, most-likely-to-be-wandering-about types of spiders that I know of in the Midwest.
Posted by: tceisele | December 13, 2007 3:46 PM
How is this not a violation of the separation and establishment clauses of the Constitution? Is it because it is a "resolution" and not a law?
Posted by: gex | December 13, 2007 4:13 PM
Phil (#11): "cephalopodulous"?!? It's a good thing we like you...
:-)
Posted by: Steve in MI | December 13, 2007 4:18 PM
Gex (#15): Very simply, yes. It remains, however, a clear violation of common sense and good taste.
Posted by: Steve in MI | December 13, 2007 4:19 PM
Well, tceisele, I wish you could identify the spider that was in my pants.
Best pickup line I've heard all day.
Posted by: Flamethorn | December 13, 2007 4:30 PM
"I, for one, welcome our new arachnid overlords."
Posted by: jeh | December 13, 2007 4:37 PM
Awwww, isn't she cute!
Posted by: Skwee | December 13, 2007 4:52 PM
From BugGuide:
Jumping Spider:
http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=jumping+spider
Posted by: Hank Fox | December 13, 2007 5:32 PM
Wouldn't "cephalopendulous" be better?
Posted by: Sili | December 13, 2007 5:55 PM
Awww man, wish I'd known about that site 2 days ago before I let her go.
I'm in NY, but she may have hitched a ride in my stuff from FL.
Posted by: craig | December 13, 2007 7:13 PM
B-L-A-S-P-H-E-M-Y !!!!!!
The stars ain't gonna like this. Repent, bug-lovers
before it is too late.
:P
Posted by: astrolieber | December 13, 2007 7:14 PM
Unfortunately, the spider in MY pants was there when I was in them too.
Didn't go so well for me. As in "most painful experience in my (admittedly lucky) life." :/
Posted by: rrt | December 13, 2007 7:23 PM
OK, I think the bug guide is my new favorite site.
Posted by: craig | December 13, 2007 7:25 PM
` OH MYLANTA!! It's a giant, out-of-focus spider climbing on an invisible web!!
Posted by: S E E Quine | December 13, 2007 9:25 PM
Kinda?!? KINDA!?!
Posted by: Dan | December 14, 2007 12:17 AM
"We'll, if NASA won't come to the Tarantula Nebula, the Tarantula Nebula must come to..." ooch ouch, my sense of taste just bit me!
ant-arse, I mean, antaresrichard
Posted by: antaresrichard | December 14, 2007 2:56 AM
A spider sucking on a space shuttle, that's something I have never seen before.
Posted by: Kris Verburgh | December 14, 2007 3:43 AM
PZ, kindly warn us when you link to a site that shows giant spiders. I don't think the guys in the lab across the quadrangle heard my shriek of terror!
Urgh, spiders... *shudder* Craig @13: There is nothing beautiful about long hairy legs, especially when attached to a spider!
Posted by: maxi | December 14, 2007 5:33 AM
Yes Johnny Vector, you are correct. The spider is a salticid, a.k.a. a jumping spider. Even I, Lepidopterist with an additional background in Arachnology can plainly discern this.
Too bad its not the biggest ph*****g Phidippus ever. In head on view, many species have wonderful metallic green chelicerae (fangs).
Posted by: mothra | December 14, 2007 4:49 PM
I, for one, welcome our new Powerful Invertebrate Overlords.
Posted by: Andrew | December 15, 2007 8:41 AM