| Friday, January 2, 2009 |
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| A Spider's Web |
SpotlightSpider webs: they can be a work of art, sparkling with the morning dew. But you wouldn't want to walk into one in a dark room. The silky thread thrown out from the spider's spinnerets is stronger than the same weight of steel, and far more flexible. Though most webs are relatively small, some spiders have been known to spin their webs near each other, with the webs joining. In 2007, a web found in Texas' Lake Tawakoni State Park measured 200 yards (180 m) across. Last month, scientists confirmed that threads found embedded in a prehistoric piece of amber were part of a 140,000,000-year-old spider web. According to an Oxford University paleobiologist, this proves that arachnids had been ensnaring their prey in silky nets since the dinosaur age.
Quote"The difference between utility and utility plus beauty is the difference between telephone wires and the spider web."
Question of the DayHow long would it take a spider to spin a web around the world at the equator?
41 years, 8 months. For the distance to travel, we'll use a very accurate calculation of 24,901.55 miles as the Earth's circumference at the equator. We'll have to make a few assumptions to work the problem. 1. The "web" we're talking about will be a single, long strand. 2. Our spider can spin a strand of silk at the rate of 6 feet per minute. Many female spiders can spin that fast. 3. Our spider does not need to stop for eating, sleeping, or any other reason...
Word of the dayuniversal time
The mean solar time for the meridian at Greenwich, England, used as a basis for calculating time throughout most of the world. Also called Greenwich time, Greenwich Mean Time; Also called Zulu time.
The calendar undergoes a major change this week as the Western world celebrates New Year's Day. This week, we'll look at some words relating to time and how we tell one day from the next.
Today's History
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| A Castle in Granada, Spain |
- Granada: last Moorish stronghold in Spain surrendered to Roman Catholic monarchs Ferdinand II and Isabella I (1492)
- Vulcan: the "discovery" of a planet closer to the Sun than Mercury was announced by French mathematician Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier (1860)
- 55 mph limit: Congress and President Richard Nixon set a national speed limit to conserve gasoline following the 1973 oil crisis (1974)
Today's Birthdays
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| Christy Turlington |
- Isaac Asimov (1920-1992): prolific sci-fi writer of the Foundation Series and I, Robot
- Jack Hanna (62): zoologist and TV personality
- Christy Turlington (40): Calvin Klein, Maybelline model who has written a book, Living Yoga
- Cuba Gooding, Jr. (40): Oscar winner for Jerry Macguire; actors Wendy Phillips (57), Gabrielle Carteris (48), Tia Carrere (42), Taye Diggs (37), Dax Shepard (34), Paz Vega (33) and Kate Bosworth (26) were also born on this date
- Answers.com (4): Happy Birthday to us!
