Spiders often act passively in response to humans.
Jimmy_Chan/Shutterstock
An expert on why spiders are misunderstood and their fascinating survival strategies.
Orsima ichneumon, a species of jumping spider.
James O'Hanlon, courtesy NewSouth
James O'Hanlon’s easy and humorous style makes Silk and Venom a readily digestible and satisfying meal for anyone with an interest in the natural world.
novama/Shutterstock
The surprising parallel between spider silk spinning and fibres toxic to humans could lead to new clues about how to fight neurodegenerative disorders.
The small and unassuming Steatoda nobilis .
JorgeOrtiz_1976/Shutterstock
Once confined to the Canary Islands, noble false widow spiders are casting their web worldwide.
How to entangle the universe in a spider/web?, 2022, Tomás Saraceno. Courtesy the artist with thanks to Arachnophilia, neugerriemschneider, Berlin and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Los Angeles.
Photo Credit: Mona/Jesse Hunniford Image Courtesy Studio Tomás Saraceno and MONA Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
This new exhibition at Hobart’s Mona captures Tomás Saraceno’s collaborations with research institutes.
vinitapuniasangwan/iNaturalist
Invertebrates are the most abundant animals on our planet – and the vast majority are nothing to be afraid of, despite their appearances.
Shutterstock
These fascinating spiders only live for about a year and have particularly interesting family arrangements.
A female Euoplos variabilis from Mount Tamborine.
Jeremy Wilson
To many people, Australia’s spider diversity is a source of fear. To arachnologists, it’s a goldmine, with most Australian spider species still yet to be discovered.
LukasPich/Shutterstock
An Italian study revealed how a murder mystery novel and a medical rarity were used to whip up media hysteria about spiders.
Hostile reactions to spiders are harming conservation efforts.
Karim Rezk/Flickr
There is little to fear and lots to love about spiders, which have not killed anyone in Australia for 40 years.
As the world warms, male ladybird spiders are hatching too early in the year to meet a mate.
MF Photo / shutterstock
Don’t be afraid of spiders – be afraid for spiders
Steatoda grossa, also known as the false black widow spider, poses little threat to humans. True black widows only bite when they are disturbed.
Mike Hrabar
Our fear of spiders is driven by a lack of information, but these fascinating creatures are often more harmless than harmful.
Scorpions used to be a rural problem in Brazil. Now, residents of São Paulo and other urban areas are dealing with an infestation of these venomous creatures.
AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini
Brazil’s scorpion infestation, which is terrorizing residents of São Paulo and other major cities, is a classic ‘wicked problem.’ That means officials must think outside-the-box to fix it.
There’s a very good reason for those leg hairs.
Flickr/Hamish Irvine
Believe it or not, I have studied the hairy legs of spiders for years and can give you some definitive answers on this.
Family favourite: Araneus diadematus or garden spider.
mj - tim photography via Shutterstock
Autumn is spider season. It’s worth getting to know more about our eight-legged friends.
He comes in peace.
Matt Bertone
Why you should consider a live-and-let-live policy with the spiders you encounter in your home.
Spider silk is a bit like a cross between steel and rubber.
Mai Lam/The Conversation NY-BD-CC
Some spiders produce silk than can actually be stronger than steel and 50 times as light.
Halloween spiders.
Flickr/Scott McLeod
There are plenty of reasons to love and not hate spiders, but let’s start with just eight.
The last thing the spider saw before everything went black.
Flickr/Nicola Albertini
If a huge huntsman spider is sucked into a vacuum cleaner, can it crawl out later? Lucy, age eight, really, really needs to know.
Fungus gnats are one the many arthropods that find their way into our homes.
Gnat image from www.shutterstock.com
Our homes harbour hundreds of species of insects and their relatives.