Giant Freakin Robot

Every day, I read at least one solidly negative about the Internet, whether it’s the legal terms of use mumblings of photo websites or the lack of security involved with the hacker-friendly digital world. The smaller moments where its worth is championed are usually drowned out by the din of inefficiency. Well, this is one of those moments where the web can pat itself on the back.

Google and the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) came together for an unprecedented sharing of information, making some of the oldest known writings available for all to see. No need to dress up in your very best museum clothes, for the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library is now available to view from your very own home. Director of the IAA Shuka Dorman told the Associated Press, “Only five conservators worldwide are authorized to handle the Dead Sea Scrolls. Now, everyone can touch the scroll on screen around the globe.” And if you happen to sneeze into your coffee while reading them, take comfort in knowing you’ll only have to replace your computer, instead of inventing a time machine to go back and recreate the ancient texts.

While I’m not as big a Star Trek fan as probably 90% of the visitors to this site, the Abrams reboot was one of my favorite films of 2009, and I couldn’t have been more surprised by that. What wasn’t so surprising was the absolute lack of creepy-ass baby doll heads crawling around on spidery legs, scaring the shit out of the Enterprise crew. Another thing that was sorely missed was the involvement of dinosaurs. I mean, dinosaurs and humans co-existing is like the best science fiction story concept ever, am I right? Why does everyone dismiss my opinions so easily?

Well, this mash-up teaser, and the subsequent trailer, were made by YouTube user “phoenixdark9″ and aptly do everything that this strange sort of art form requires. It got me excited for Into Darkness and Toy Story 3 all over again. Check out last week’s teaser.

For those who aren’t familiar with the annual “Pilot Season” promotion that comics publisher Top Cow Productions puts on — at least until this year — it’s one of the more intriguing and frustrating projects to follow. Much like a television network, a predetermined number of comics are put under the banner, and sometimes they comics get carried on into full series, but most don’t. Dan Casey’s Theory of Everything was in that doomed bunch, but now 20th Century Fox has picked up the movie rights.

While I don’t have a fear of spiders or anything — and don’t you try and test that non-fear — but I do have a distrust and dislike for them. Mostly because I’m not fond of anything that could possibly fall from the ceiling into my mouth while I sleep. But that’s all right, because I understand their worth in nature; I can’t just disrupt the ecosystem because I don’t want to go from a sleeping nightmare into a waking one. But now researchers have discovered a spider in Peru that threatens to taint my dreams forevermore. Well, not really. But maybe.

In a recent blog post written for Rainforest Expeditions, biologist Phil Torres recorded his findings of around 25 spiders in a floodplain area around the Tambopata Research Center. The spider itself is quite possibly a member of the genus Cyclosa, part of a species that has never been seen before. One more species among the other 38,000 or so isn’t all that bad. Except these build decoys of themselves around five times bigger than their body sizes. (faint)

Okay, so the actual decoy isn’t that scary in and of itself. The spiders in question are only around 5 mm long, which puts the decoys at only an inch in length. So it’s not the size of the decoy, but the motion of the web shaking. Because yes, after the spider builds its relatively gigantic clone out of leaves, debris, and its dead insect prey, the spider itself hides just above its gangly doppelgänger and shakes the web, making the faux-rachnid appear as if it’s in motion. The Cyclosa genus is known for its mold-building distractions, but this is the only case of dropping legs and movement. Of course, not everyone is a prodigy. “Some of the decoys placed in the webs looked rather realistic. Others resembled something more like a cartoon octopus,” says Torres.