Spiders are part of the iconography of Halloween. Don’t be frightened, though. Sure, a Facebook friend advises today that for black widow spiders common in Central Oregon, a squirt of brake cleaner works great, followed, just to be safe, by application of yesterday’s newspaper. Thanks, fine, but for the rest of spiderkind, how about leaving them alone and, instead, appreciating the valuable services they perform? Gobbling mosquitoes, for one thing.

And that’s not all. Take a moment to appreciate the awesome natural design of their webs. A new video from Discovery Institute explains why biomimetic researchers would love to be able to duplicate the strength and flexibility of dragline silk.

There’s much more to admire in these tiny predators than there is to be scared of. Spiders are among the natural wonders described in Billions of Missing Links: A Rational Look at the Mysteries Evolution Can’t Explain, by Discovery Institute Fellow Geoffrey Simmons, MD. Get a copy now!

Photo credit: Didgeman, via Pixabay.