Field Journal: Creepy? Cool? You Decide
Vince Patton, Producer/Reporter
Tuesday, November 06, 2007 — How many women do you know who will talk about venom and vomit within minutes of meeting them? Well, if you're not easily freaked out, then Greta Binford has got some fascinating tales to tell.
She's an Asst. Professor of Biology at Lewis & Clark College with a most unique collection. Sitting in a warm, humid, temperature controlled vault, she keeps 600 of the world's most poisonous spiders.
Make no mistake. She likes spiders. She really does.
At home she does not squash them. They're fine around her house. She says house spiders in the Northwest are not poisonous.
At work she regularly extracts the poison from her spiders without harming them. That's where venom and vomit come in.
She'll take a large six-eyed sand spider and put it in a gas chamber full of carbon dioxide to temporarily put it to sleep. Then she picks it up, gingerly clips it in some forceps and mounts it under a microscope.
(Click any photo to see more images.)
Next she pulls out a gray box with knobs that looks like something from a lab of the 1950's. It simultaneously delivers an electrical shock and suctions up liquid when she turns it on. But first, she delicately holds a tiny glass tube with her right hand, peers through the scope and places the tube next to the spider's fangs. The tiny suction piece in her left hand sits next to the spider's mouth.
When the electricity jolts the spider, all the muscles contract, not just the ones controlling the venom. Yes, you probably see where this is going. That suction machine is really a vomit vacuum. If she holds both parts just right she'll collect a clean, uncontaminated sample of the spider venom. Later she'll analyze its DNA.
She's got some really large spiders from South America and Africa. And in all her years of spider study she's never been bitten. Not once.
Our story this week shows you even more about her research. Here are some pictures.
Plus, as an added treat, we've got a short video here online of 6-Eyed Sand Spiders. Watch as they bury themselves in the sand. It's amazing. They disappear in seconds. Woe to the unfortunate prey that happens to walk by.
If you're like my arachnophobic doctor, then you're not even reading this page in the first place. But if you're like me, you'll find this really cool.
