Science News Review

Veggie-Spider, Cooperative Mustard, and Hard Boiled Eggs

Oct 22 at 5:05pm by Aileen

In the news this month we’ve learned about a neotropical jumping spider discovered by Christopher Meehan of Villanova University in Mexico and Eric Olson of Brandeis in Costa Rica that is the only species of spider observed to subsist on a primarily vegetarian diet. Previously, spiders had not been known to consume any type of solid food, apart from occasional pollen fed to young in a single species of orb-weaver. The new species has been named Bagheera kiplingi.

And on the subject of vegetation, plant biologists at the University of Delaware and McMaster University in Canada conducted a study of more than 3,000 mustard seedlings and discovered that young plants are capable of evolution extends well into the plant kingdom. Those Arabidopsis plants are ever full of interesting surprises!

On a more animalistic note, if you’ve noticed that your hard boiled eggs seem difficult to peel, the USDA and Harold McGee in his book On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen explain why fresh eggs are more difficult to peel than older eggs. Bottom line: let your eggs sit for a few days before trying to make deviled eggs!