Image: None, I can't do it, I can't search for a royalty free image of a spider, I don't like spiders a lot! :-p
Spider ballooning is when a spider releases strands of silk and uses them to propel itself through the air, or so people thought. Researchers at the University of Bristol observed successful spider ballooning with the absence of any wind and even in rainy conditions. Their study discovered that spiders can detect minuscule electric fields caused by the Atmospheric Potential Gradient. Other insects such as bumblebees can detect a electric fields between themselves and flowers and can use their charge to communicate with the hive. Until now, it was not known that spiders can detect similar fields and, together with their insulating silk strands, use the fields to provide life in the absence of wind.
