In Chapter 15, “Above the Falls,” author Jonathan Meiburg recounts an evening on a research expedition near the Rewa River in Guyana.

Using their silk threads as a catapult, members of a family of orb-weaving arachnids rocket themselves and their webs through the air to capture prey.

The tropical net-casting spider Deinopis spinosa joins several other arachnid species that can hear sounds from afar without the help of a web, or even ears—an ability that aids its unique hunting tactics.

After the initial announcements of two retractions, scientists have mobilized to interrogate the data in nearly 150 of Jonathan Pruitt’s papers.

Buoyancy techniques used by spiders and ants inspire the development of floating aluminum discs.

A type of jumping spider called Afraflacilla had never been documented in India—until now.

Funnel-web spiders change the timing of their distinct courtship behavior depending on what microbes they’re carrying.

Spotted coin spider colors are a Swiss army knife of deception, bringing food closer, and keeping assailants at bay.

Over the course of their lives, the jumping spider Synemosyna formica wears two different ant disguises to fool preying birds.

A virtual exhibition of C.R. Percival’s slides reveals the natural world up close.

Without access to their mothers’ milk, Toxeus magnus offspring die within the first 10 days of life.

Scientists photograph a spider web in micron-scale glory.

In an unusual evolutionary twist, local stick spiders have come up with an almost identical repertoire of color morphs in multiple locations.

This discovery closes a 170-million-year gap in the fossil record.

Scientists explore why male peacock spiders are so colorful. 

A cornucopia of toxins in the animal kingdom could provide inspiration for novel painkillers, but so far, effective drugs have proven elusive.
 

Arachnids harbor a plentiful array of molecules that target mammalian pain receptors.

Prey stick to orb-weaver spider webs because their waxy outer layers mesh with spider silk to form a matrix glue.

Inspired by the Sorting Hat from the Harry Potter series, scientists aptly dubbed this pointy spider Eriovixia gryffindori, after the fictional yet formidable wizard Godric Gryffindor.