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Jumping Spiders Clock Two Sleep Stages; Dreams Stay Unverified
What happened
The University of Bonn reported October 27 that researchers found two distinguishable sleep stages in the Australian jumping spider Portia fimbriata, including a REM-like phase with eye movements and muscle twitches. The team recorded spiders over several day-night cycles, tested their responses to sound and interrupted sleep to look for compensating sleep rebound. The peer-reviewed study appeared in PNAS.
Why it matters
The work supplies a strong behavioral case for regulated sleep in a spider and gives comparative biology a very distant branch for studying how sleep evolved. It does not prove that spiders dream: the team did not measure brain activity, and REM-like movement is evidence of a sleep stage rather than a transcript of subjective experience.
The Blappos angle
The two stages, behavioral tests, acoustic arousal method and dreaming limit end above. The Blappos interpretation: the web now has a night mode, but its browsing history remains private. The magnet's spider, silk hammock, moon and waveforms are original editorial illustration—not a study frame, brain trace or claim that researchers watched a spider dream.
Read the University of Bonn's October 27 research explainer and linked PNAS paper ↗Blappos is commentary. Artwork is illustration—not documentary photography—and the joke is not a substitute for the linked reporting. Check this story’s source ledger or read our sourcing, satire and corrections standard.
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BUY THIS MAGNET — $9.99 ↗ Shipping calculated by Printify.Three ridiculously relevant Amazon finds
AMAZON FIND 01Biology of SpidersThe comprehensive arachnid reference for placing one two-stage sleep result inside the biology of an extraordinarily varied order.SEE THE EXACT ITEM →
AMAZON FIND 02Spider Silk: Evolution and 400 Million Years of Spinning, Waiting, Snagging, and MatingA readable evolutionary history of the material that also gives Portia a place to hang upside down for the night shift.SEE THE EXACT ITEM →
AMAZON FIND 03The Private Life of SpidersA visual tour of spider behavior for readers newly curious about what eight-legged lives contain when the laboratory lights go out.SEE THE EXACT ITEM →As an Amazon Associate, Blappos may earn from qualifying purchases. Product availability and pricing can change.