In 1995, NASA scientists seeking to measure toxicity relationships examined the webs of spiders dosed with various chemicals. Their experiments have shown that common house spiders spin their webs in different ways according to the psychotropic drug they have been given. NASA scientists believe the research demonstrates that web-spinning spiders can be used to test drugs because the more toxic the chemical, the more deformed was the web.
The marijuana spider did pretty good, but stopped about halfway through. The benzedrine (amphetamine) spider worked hard, but failed to do much planning. The caffeine spider was just ineffective, and the chloral hydrate (sedative) spider fell asleep.
Source: thinkorthwim.com, genetologisch-onderzoek.nl
