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Tag: Arachnophobia

  • Cure Your Fear Of Spiders With Sleep

    Cure Your Fear Of Spiders With Sleep

    You’re probably afraid of spiders. You may argue that it’s a perfectly rational fear, but it’s strictly irrational unless your’re staring a Black Widow or Brown Recluse in the face. Most spiders are harmless heroes who only want to protect your house from the more dangerous bugs that carry disease. Well, fear them no more as science has found a way that may cure you of your arachnophobia.

    The University of Massachusetts, Amherst, recently conducted a study on 66 women to study the effects of sleep on arachnophobia. The researchers created four control groups to find out how “fear extinction is affected by sleep, wakefulness and time of day.” The women were subjected to a rather tame, and pretty funny video, on spiders.

    The time of day control groups watched the video 14 times in sessions that were two hours apart. These groups were used to rule out that time of day had any effect on fear. The two groups that are of interest is the sleep and wake groups. These groups watched the video 14 times in sessions that were 12 hours apart – either after being awake for 12 hours or being asleep for the same amount of time.

    Now this is where things get interesting. To measure the fear in those watching the video, the researchers would set off a loud noise in 60 percent of the viewings. They used a system that measured palm sweat to calculate fear. The women were then subjected to old and new spider videos. The fear was measured in accordance with the old and new videos to see if there was a change in response.

    The results might be a little surprising. They found that sleep did a better job of reinforcing a memory formed during exposure therapy. In essence, the women went to sleep with the memories of spiders fresh in their memory. By sleeping with these memories, it lessened the impact the spider videos had on them the next day.

    So what about the women who watched spider videos and then stayed awake for 12 hours? They were found to have a worse response to watching more spider videos at the end of the day.

    Interestingly enough, the sleep control group wasn’t even afraid of the new spider when it was introduced. The women who stayed awake were even more afraid of it.

    So what do we take from all of this? You should expose yourself to fears and then sleep on it. Your brain will reintroduce you to these fears whether you know it or not during your REM cycle. You might even dream about the fear in question. So far, it seems to only have positive effects though as it might even cure said fears.

    The study in question was only performed on those with arachnophobia because it’s probably the most prevalent fear among people. It opens up new avenues, however, of killing other irrational fears. My fear of flying may be a thing of the past if I’m able to get up in a plane and then sleep it off. Unfortunately, convincing myself to fly might be a little difficult.

    [h/t: Harvard News]

  • Brown Recluse Spider Bite Almost Blinds Texas Christian University Student

    Nikki Perez, a student at Texas Christian University, was nearly blinded by a bite from a brown recluse spider. The brown recluse is one of the most dangerous spiders in North America.

    This specific arthropod’s population continues to spread with the warming of the planet and may lead to a rise in attacks: “a changing climate could make parts of Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Nebraska and South Dakota suitable for it. It’s not the amount of space that’s changing, but the area it covers.”

    Despite the alarm, only one or two pople die every year from BR bites.

    Perez has suffered greatly after the spider sunk its fangs into her at the Amarillo airport. Her head swelled to twice its size, she lost part of her ear from necrosis, she was in the hospital for five days, and she had to receive skin grafts.

    Nikki before and after the attack:

    (image)

    The following picture shows the horrific damage that the bite did to her ear:

    (image)

    The brown recluse has a violin shaped marking that makes it easy to identify. Lucky for Nikki her mom is a nurse and was aware of the severity of the bite.

    (image)

    The recent attack has spurred rumors that Portland is infested with brown recluses.

    After seeing these photos I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a resurgence of Arachnophobia.

    OMG, the school I teach at just sent out an email about brown recluse spider bites. I didn’t need the after photo. I won’t be eating today.(image) 18 minutes ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    I keep on watching these brown recluse spider videos http://t.co/toqeExJF(image) 27 minutes ago via dlvr.it ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    I awoke to a brown recluse spider on my bed. I’d post a pic, but I eviscerated it w/ a copy of Sports Illustrated. Who says print is dead?(image) 1 day ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Some guy got bit by a Brown Recluse spider, and one family had a rat infestation *shivers*..I couldn’t do it! I’d abandon my house, keep it!(image) 1 day ago via Twidroyd for Android ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Just killed the biggest, ugliest spider I’ve seen in years. Probably a brown recluse… (shiver)(image) 2 days ago via Twitter for iPhone ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Found a spider. Looks like a Brown recluse, but I’m not sure. Any arachnologists follow me? Or spider enthusiasts? https://t.co/IiHYpeDO(image) 5 days ago via WindowsLive ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Would you know what to do if you were bitten by a poisonous brown recluse spider?(image) 4 days ago via TweetDeck ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    A2NEWS: Dust Off Your Pest Control Techniques The Brown Recluse Spider Is Active Again.spider pest control.Transonic… http://t.co/N0DqR2X1(image) 5 days ago via HootSuite ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

  • The Science of Spider Webs

    Arachnophobia; the fear of spiders. Most people are afraid of these little guys for varying reasons; some are poisonous and some are just creepy looking. However, these 8-legged architects can build some astonishing structures using their silk.

    Spider silk is a versatile material. For example, the single thread the spider uses to drop down, pull it and it stretches, but with no outside forces acting on it, it stiffens to its original state.

    How does this work? You may ask, well, According to one source, during the elastic stage of the web, the proteins in spider silk are pressed into finite folded structures. So when the spider decides to drop, the structures unfurl, when the folds are gone, the proteins reconfigure into the tough structures referred to as beta-sheet nanocrystals.

    Scientists performed a study to see how molecular properties impact the entire web. So, a group of researchers sought out a a basic web built by your every day casual spider. With the spider still on the web, the team hung tiny metal wires on the web to simulate an insect caught in the web. When they pulled the wires, the individual spokes of the web broke, but the other threads, acting as almost support structures, didn’t break.

    The results of the experiment really show off the unique ecology of these arachnids. Spider silk is one of the most scientifically interesting natural materials. Other creatures that spin silk, such as silk worms, their silk is made to be more stretchy than anything. A spider’s silk, however, can be elastic and incredibly strong at different times.

    Needless to say spider webs are incredible structures and a useful hunting tool for the creatures. The architecture and pure aesthetic beauty of the web is just an added bonus. Spiders may be creepy to you, but they sure are smart arachnids.