For science

A few weeks ago I caught a little household spider in a transparent plastic floppy disk case. I showed it to Yaman, who recoiled in disgust (he's mortally afraid of all insects and most animals). Still, he overcame his fear enough to take the case from me and give it a good shaking. I shouted at him and snatched the case back. Then I put it on a table to observe.

In about a minute, maybe, the spider turned itself to `stand' on the ceiling of the case, upside-down. I then turned the case upside-down, to put the spider right-side up again. It went crazy! It started running about inside the case for about ten or twenty seconds, then slowed down and hung itself upside-down again.

I put it upright again. And again, it went crazy, skittering about madly, and then finally putting itself upside-down again. I did this several times, and each time it responded in exactly the same way.

After a while, I have to admit, I got bored (I'm not Richard Feynman :-). So I let it go on the balcony outside my bedroom. Immediately Yaman squashed it under his sandal. I shouted at him some more, then gave it up. He's totally determined to wipe out all of insectkind, it seems. (Yes, I know a spider is not an insect, but an arachnid. Yaman doesn't care.)