spider

Hopkins told Demme, “the quietness is the most terrifying part — it goes back to childhood, going to a room, turning on a light, there’s a big spider on the wall, quiet, waiting.”

Scientists at the University of California, Davis report the discovery of a previously unrecognized trapdoor spider that lives in California's coastal sand dunes.

Despite this dramatic reduction, the genome of this species is not only more compact but also contains a higher level of genetic diversity than that of related mainland spiders.

You can go crazy with string lights to create an enchanted tree in your backyard or adorn it with some creepy critters — snakes, bats, spiders…you name it — to amp up the scare factor.

And in case anyone is wondering, these experiments did not involve any radioactive spider bites.