@mobbs here.

We folks behind stempede also happen to be prolific authors on our own accounts, and I felt it a cool idea to show stempede readers a quick, abridged post on something each of us learnt earlier on in the week. Let's start with me because I rule.

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MOBBS

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- How spiders navigate their webs without getting stuck

This question has been surprisingly vague over the decades, and although there were a great number of assumptions, regarding oily secretions and the like, there was little evidence to support many of the ideas. Just this last few months, a new paper came out providing a 3-pronged answer:

careful skilled movements, a lowered surface area contact by having a dense array of setae (hairs, bristles) on the legs, and a chemical anti-adhesive.

This also comes with more knowledge about how three tarsal claws work to crab and release the web on each leg, how spiders essentially use their back legs as blind man's canes, and how the silk of the web lines interacts with the setae (rough hairs) on the spider's legs.

You can read more here

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RUTH-GIRL

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- Atopic Dermatitis

As somebody who has lived a miserable life of allergic rhinitis, only to find out a few weeks ago I actually have non-allergic rhinitis and thus found a medicine that actually works for me now I'm basically half way to my grave, I can relate pretty deeply to this post.

Ruth-girl talks about her experience with an allergic skin condition that returned with a vengeance after disappearing for 20 years, likely induced by stress. Not to keep things too personal, she dives into the science behind it.

What struck me in this post is how varied the lesions can be. When I think of a skin allergy I just think of a red rash, but in some people it can get pretty extreme and nasty. Thankfully there are a whole bunch of treatments, which is more than I can say for my allergy, which I'm now cursed to spray stuff up my nose every day forever, or until it stops being effective and I live a life of misery once again.

Er... anyway.

You can read more here

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TRUMPMAN

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- A weird octopus-plant-fungus-egg thing

Possibly the most unpleasant thing I've read about in the last few days or so, trumpman introduces us to a bizarre plant, that isn't actually a plant, but an egg. Which is actually not an egg but an octopus... even though it's actually a fungus.

Called Clathrus archeri, or the octopus stinkhorn, this can be found in Australia and, if you want, eaten. If you like the taste of rotting crab, this is the mushroom for you! If you're still hungry, it also has an even freakier cousin...

You can read more here

That's all for now! Maybe I'll make this a regular thing? Something to think about, let me know!