Angela, Curtis, thanks for the anecdote and the website information. Spiders are way cool, IMO. My son's tarantula, Priscilla, a Mexican Redleg, died last year after 20 years of just hanging around. She was already a 3-inch across adult when he got her as a xmas present when he was 11 years old.
Spiders had always freaked me out, but Priscilla's macro-ness exposed all the beauty and complexity of her kind and I became totally fascinated with her, and by extension, to spiders as a whole. Plus I didn't want to pass on my own irrational fear of spiders to my children. Never got super comfortable holding Priscilla but was always happy to see that my son had no similar hesitation. But jumping spiders, even pre-Priscilla, have always been fascinating and for some reason, not as freaky as other spiders even though they're super predators and would probably be happy to feast on a large, hairless monkey if they could somehow manage the takedown. When the kids were real young, we used to draw different jumping spider warriors that we'd equip with different weapons, attributes and rank and then my son and his friend would use them in constructing imaginary battles. Even though I knew that jumping spiders had good eyesight, and I've played the types of "games" with them that Angela described, I hadn't realized that their eyesight is as good as our own. Wonderful stuff. Thanks. Marek ** --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "curtisdeltablues" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Later, I saw one on > > a flower stem, and the thing actually played > > peek-a-boo with me the way a child does, hiding and > > then coming out to take a shy look and then hiding > > again. > > Like a child who is afraid that a monstrously huge creature will eat > him! The cute peek-a-boo of terror mixed with the pugnaciousnesses of > a predator. Probably going back and forth between, "i think I can > take this creature and eat it" to "holy shit is that thing big! > Feet's don't fail me now. Seriously, all of eight of them!) > > > Here is some interesting info on their sight: > http://www.xs4all.nl/~ednieuw/Spiders/InfoNed/sensoryleg.html > > The eyes of spider differ greatly between families. Spiders who hunt > without a web like wolf spiders (Lycosidae), lynx spiders (Oxyopidae) > and jumping spiders (Salticidae) have a well-developed eyesight. > Jumping spiders can see nearly as well as humans. Experiments have > shown that they are even capable of seeing colors. Cave spiders, which > live in the dark, have no or hardly any eyesight. They depend > completely on sound and feeling. > The structure of the eye is in basic similar to our eye; behind a > single cuticular lens lays a cellular vitreous body and the visual > cells. Together with pigment cell this forms the retina. > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Angela Mailander > <mailander111@> wrote: > > > > I agree. I remember how totally blown away I was when > > I discovered that you can make eye contact with > > jumping spiders. These are the cute little furry > > critters that don't build webs but instead lurk at a > > window's edge and then pounce, tiger-like, on any fly > > that happens to land on that window pane. Amazing how > > far they can jump. I watched them for a whole > > afternoon once, and imagine my surprise when I saw > > intelligence looking back at me. Later, I saw one on > > a flower stem, and the thing actually played > > peek-a-boo with me the way a child does, hiding and > > then coming out to take a shy look and then hiding > > again. Mind-bending. I thought, I'm imagining this. > > But then, just recently, a friend confessed to the > > same experience. Of course, we could both be > > bonkers--prolly are. > > > > > > > > > > > > --- curtisdeltablues <curtisdeltablues@> > > wrote: > > > > > Bird navigation is a fascinating phenomenon. I'm > > > glad there are > > > serious people in the world trying to figure this > > > stuff out. I'll bet > > > we are in for lots of surprises as we begin to > > > understand what animals > > > are up to with their Martian intelligence. The > > > "lower" creatures that > > > "God" gave us dominion over (I have it in writing) > > > are gunna blow our > > > minds. > > > > > > > > > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung > > > <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > > > > > Now here's an article that could pave the way > > > towards understanding > > > > the ritam level of life. Though, to be sure, the > > > researcher is not > > > > too happy about this notion. > > > > > > > > But me, well, I buy into this concept close to > > > 100%. > > > > > > > > So long Schroedinger's Cat, there's a birdie > > > that's got my attention > > > > now. Maybe God doesn't play dice. > > > > > > > > Edg > > > > > > > > http://tinyurl.com/4es8y9 > > > > > > > > Quantum zeno effect explains bird navigation > > > > April 18th, 2008 | by KFC | > > > > > > > > Magnetoreception > > > > > > > > Just how birds use the earth's magnetic field to > > > navigate has puzzled > > > > researchers for decades. > > > > > > > > But in recent years, a growing body of evidence > > > points to the > > > > possibility that a weak magnetic field can > > > influence the outcome of a > > > > certain type of chemical reaction in bird retinas > > > involving radical > > > > ion pairs. > > > > > > > > The idea is that the chemical outcome of the > > > recombination of the ion > > > > pairs depends on whether the radical electrons are > > > in a singlet or > > > > triplet state. A magnetic field creates a bias > > > towards the triplet > > > > state which in turn leads to a one chemical output > > > being preferred > > > > over another. > > > > > > > > To test the idea, various experimenters have > > > successfully confused the > > > > navigational abilities of birds such as robins by > > > zapping them with > > > > magnetic fields specifically designed to disrupt > > > this reaction. Case > > > > closed. > > > > > > > > Not quite. The problem is that the ion > > > recombination is known to > > > > happen too quickly for the Earth's magnetic field > > > to have any effect. > > > > So how can this mechanism work? > > > > > > > > The claim made today by Iannis Kominis at the > > > University of Crete is > > > > that the quantum zeno effect explains all. This is > > > the > > > > watched-pot-never-boils effect on the qauntum > > > scale. It states that > > > > the act of observing a quantum system can alter > > > its evolution in a way > > > > that maintains the state for longer than expected. > > > > > > > > One well known example is that it is possible to > > > slow down the rate at > > > > which molecules convert from ortho to para isomers > > > when they are > > > > constantly involved in collisions. > > > > > > > > Kominis says a similar thing happens in birds: the > > > presence of a > > > > geomagnetic field extends the lifetime of the > > > singlet-triplet mixture > > > > from which the ions recombine. This gives the > > > magnetic field time to > > > > bias the outcome of the recombination. > > > > > > > > Interesting idea. But what's most impressive is > > > that it accounts for a > > > > number of unexplained observations about avian > > > magnetoreception, such > > > > as the heading error of about 30 degrees that > > > often afflicts birds > > > > (Kominis says a change in heading angle causes a > > > change in the > > > > coherence time) and that avian compasses appear > > > sensitive to only a > > > > certain window of magnetic field strength (Kominis > > > says the window > > > > depends on the hyperfine couplings of the atoms > > > involved which have > > > > been selected for by evolution). > > > > > > > > If Kominis is correct, this is extraordinary news: > > > it means a quantum > > > > sensor determines the macroscopic behaviour of > > > magnetic sensitive birds. > > > > > > > > Kominis says we may well see similar effects > > > elsewhere, and mentions > > > > that a similar mechanism might be at work in > > > photosynthesis. > > > > > > > > But there's another system closer to home that is > > > bound to come up. > > > > Kominis is careful not to mention it but the > > > quantum consciousness > > > > people are going to be all over this like freshmen > > > at a sorority party. > > > > > > > > Ref: arxiv.org/abs/0804.2646: Quantum Zeno Effect > > > Underpinning the > > > > Radical-Ion-Pair Mechanism of Avian > > > Magnetoreception > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Send instant messages to your online friends > http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com > > >
