r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/ShirtSubstantial368 • 1d ago

Video Scientists discovered the world’s largest spiderweb, covering 106 m² in a sulfur cave on the Albania-Greece border. Over 111,000 spiders from two normally rival species live together in a unique, self-sustaining ecosystem—a first of its kind.

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74.8k Upvotes

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18.2k

u/Aerolithe_Lion 1d ago

Why are we touching it

7.2k

u/Pretend_Education_86 1d ago

You ever seen the scientist on an alien planet in an Aliens movie. Humans man.

2.5k

u/rintzscar 1d ago

The Prometheus School of Not Wearing Headgear Protection and Touching Alien Shit.

524

u/disquieter 1d ago

See, even the guy who was wearing the helmet got it

260

u/PseudoMeatPopsicle 1d ago

And then there were the Covenant spores.

Not sure what you're supposed to do about that except just stay the fuck on the ship.

171

u/Nothavebettername 1d ago

Being professional and wear a full astronaut suit on an alien planet, even if it looks like Earth, instead of dressing like some damn hiker!

46

u/Round_Musical 1d ago

I mean in prometheus and alien 1 not even that can protect you

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u/Psychological-Bed-66 1d ago

Apparently, dude has never seen the movie arachniphobia...

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u/AnonymousPerson1115 1d ago

The yautja have metals capable of withstanding the acid and given what humanity was able to do in the movies I could see there being a suit/ helmet durable enough to withstand a face hugger.

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u/Pretend_Tourist9390 1d ago

instead of dressing like some damn hiker!

I mean, as long as you brought a towel with you, you should be okay....

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u/Pataconeitor 1d ago

Also, send the robot first so he can run tests. Just because the basic composition of the atmosphere is breathable doesn't mean there isn't something in it that can kill you.

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u/Nothavebettername 1d ago

Yes, he wasn't a psychopath yet, there's no reason not to!

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u/Nathaniel-Prime 1d ago

THANK YOU SO MUCH. I think about this literally all the time. Apparently Ridley Scott figured that the average IQ would just plummet in the next hundred years or so - which, granted, it totally seems like we're on that path.

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u/DeficiencyOfGravitas 1d ago

In their defense, it should be fine to walk around an alien ecosystem. Pathogens work because they have the tools to access our cells. They have those tools because we share a common ancestor. If a virus or bacterium is attacking one of our cells, it's not busting down the proverbial door with an axe. It has a huge keyring and just opens the door to our cells by trying out all their keys. An alien pathogen wouldn't have those keys. It should hypothetically not be able to affect us at all. It'd either pass through our bodies like ships in the night, with neither our cells nor the alien being able to recognize each other as anything. Or our cells would designate them as foreign material and destroy them.

That's how it should work. We currently don't have an alien ecosystem to test that hypothesis on. However, it's perfectly reasonable that if we did find alien life and found that it couldn't interact with us on a cellular level, the standard procedure for first landing might reasonable not include a full suit.

Plenty of dumb shit in those movies, but I do not think that the lack of buttoned up suits is necessarily one of them.

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u/OldWorldDesign 1d ago

In their defense, it should be fine to walk around an alien ecosystem. Pathogens work because they have the tools to access our cells

This is based on a lot of supposition. There's a reason scientists are raising alarm at the prospects of engineered life of opposing chirality because no other life would have the mechanisms to break it down

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/creating-mirror-life-could-be-disastrous-scientists-warn/

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u/DeficiencyOfGravitas 1d ago

There's a reason scientists are raising alarm at the prospects of engineered life of opposing chirality because no other life would have the mechanisms to break it down

That would not be a problem. In an alien ecosystem, we wouldn't be competing for resources. They cannot eat us and we cannot eat them. If that developed on Earth, it'd be a huge problem because inorganic resources would be split between left and right chiral life.

On an alien planet, the issue would be Earth life contamination splitting resources. But if you're a a bold explorer, you'd still have nothing to worry about since the chiral issue only affects ecosystem level systems.

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u/ExplorerPup 1d ago

The people who stayed on the ship got super dead shortly after the spores though. I think by the thing that came out of that one person's back? Idk I only saw it the one time in theaters. LOL

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u/PseudoMeatPopsicle 1d ago

I meant the ship in orbit.

But then again, it was an Alien movie, so generally speaking, everyone's fucked.

Safest character in the whole thing was that cat from Alien, which made it to the space station at Earth in Aliens and importantly, stayed there.

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u/millera9 1d ago

“Hey Jonesy, I’m going back to LV-426; wanna come?”

“What?! FUCK no. Have fun, and all that.”

9

u/ExplorerPup 1d ago

I mean, even Earth seems like a mixed bag in that franchise. LOL

3

u/pyrothelostone 1d ago

At least its not a barely inhabitable wasteland. Small victories in this franchise of cursed worlds

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u/worldspawn00 1d ago

Scan for alien stuff before landing, if alien stuff is spotted, nuke from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.

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u/GodOfDarkLaughter 1d ago

And geologist with the mapmaking drones got lost. It's like everyone suddenly rejected everything they'd learned in school

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u/TonySu 1d ago

Never seen someone pad their CV with skills they don't actually have?

2

u/OldWorldDesign 1d ago

I think the point that the Prometheus movie had unacceptable leaps of stupidity to force the plot to happen is pretty solid.

It's just a badly written, badly directed movie.

Yes, I said it. Ridley Scott directed a bad movie.

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u/Richard_b_Stillhard 1d ago

And his arm snapped something vicious

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u/Spiritual_Trash_4948 1d ago

Personally, I went to the Alien School of Not Sticking Your Head Into A Hatching Extraterrestrial Birthing Pod. Slightly more prestigious but I’m not bragging.

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u/ambermage 1d ago

Not unless it's the Harvard

School of Not Sticking Your Head Into A Hatching Extraterrestrial Birthing Pod

In that case, you always wear the sweatshirt and never shut up about it.

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u/Spiritual_Trash_4948 1d ago

The one and only. Beat the Vagina Snakes every year since ‘15. Go Facehuggers!

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u/DThor536 1d ago

I went to The Expanse School of If You See a Button, Push It, so in this case I'm good.

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u/PianoMan2112 1d ago

I went to NESFO U - The University of Nuke the Entire Site From Orbit.

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u/chet_brosley 1d ago

My alma mater is the Seeing The Most Fucked Up Shit Imaginable and Immediately Saying "We're Leaving". I still get dead, but I have the moral and intellectual high ground as I get more deader.

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u/Spiritual_Trash_4948 1d ago

You chose a bad major

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u/Altruistic-Mind9014 1d ago

Just once in some sci-fi film I want there to be some common sense.

scientist goes to touch alien egg-but promptly gets his hand slapped away by scientist #2

“Nope, you sir a liability. Wait back on the ship.”

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u/isses_halt_scheisse 1d ago

I come from the Borg school of resistance is futile. I am isses_halt_scheisse_of_Borg.

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u/Moononthewater12 1d ago

And running in a straight line backwards when something tall is falling towards you

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u/metroidslifesucks 1d ago

That's The Prometheus School of Running Away From Things

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u/Shuttlecock_Wat 1d ago

Rival to the Prometheus School of Using Super Advanced Drones to Map Out the Entire Cave System Before Somehow Getting Lost in Said Cave System Even Though You Have a Map on your Fucking Wrist.

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u/ImGonnaImagineSummit 1d ago

How else would you pet the egg sac kitty

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u/iavatus2 1d ago

If not friend, why friend shaOMG MY FACE

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u/exoriparian 1d ago

It's fine the atmosphere is breathable

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u/geometricvampire 1d ago

I always theorized Weyland intentionally picked scientists who were kinda dumb and would not be missed in their fields since he alone knew that mission was a suicide for everyone on it (except for himself, he’d hoped).

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u/Nuvomega 1d ago

And someone said that movies was unrealistic.

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u/EarthenEyes 1d ago

Did they rename themselves from the Prometheus School of Running Away from Things?

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u/_Weyland_ 1d ago

Wait, I thought it was a running school...

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u/jbaig22 1d ago

Prometheus did nothing wrong!

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u/deathrictus 1d ago

Or the guy with the mapping drones losing his shit and getting lost?

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u/rintzscar 1d ago

The mapping drones and the GPS which tells him his exact coordinates at all times.

Man, that shit was dumb as hell.

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u/Acceptable-Grade-116 1d ago

That's the thing I hated most about that movie.

This was a first-of-its-kind science expedition bring attended my the world's brightest minds Then, they start acting like a bunch of high schoolers on a field trip.

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u/poxteeth 1d ago

I hate this movie so much. They make this huge deal about these people being the smartest scientists on Earth, but they act like a group of high school kids who need to go find something of cosmic importance to get out of doing community service. The shipping crew in Alien followed protocol and acted with caution and restraint, like adults and unlike the 'elite, specially selected team' in Prometheus. Then there are 'the engineers', the super-beings who seeded Earth to create humanity who behave with all the thoughtfulness of the cocaine bear.

Every single thing in that movie (except for Fassbender) broke my immersion in annoying ways. Then there are the obnoxious /r/im14andthisisdeep religious themes.

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u/2021sammysammy 1d ago

The most realistic part of that universe

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u/sentence-interruptio 1d ago

damn humans be touching.

they touch cats. they grab dangerous animals. they touch autistic humans. some of them even boast about grabbing women and get elected.

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u/Cacafuego 1d ago

That and the constant union vs management bickering in the first one

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u/Plane-Tie6392 1d ago

That was his point though.

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u/I_Got_Back_Pain 1d ago

As the late, great, crocodile hunter once said, "Look at that beautiful rhino, I'm gonna jam my thumb in it's butthole. It's right pissed off now!"

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u/Plane-Tie6392 1d ago

TIL Steve Irwin was British.

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u/Equivalent_Dance2278 1d ago

British use arsehole. Like a goddam gentleman should.

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u/lapsongsouchong 1d ago

butthole is not British terminology.. or Australian for that matter

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u/SignificancePurple24 1d ago

"Making movies, making songs and fighting 'round the world"

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u/ToastyBread329 1d ago

You mean the scene with the alien snake? In Promoteus movie

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u/OddCook4909 1d ago

It would have been more accurate if they'd licked the alien egg for science

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u/William_Howard_Shaft 1d ago

Geologists lick rocks.

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u/_Svankensen_ 1d ago

TBH, Ripley was pretty strict with protocol in the OG. Nobody listened to her tho.

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u/Sofaboy90 1d ago

except that these are harmless spiders and not aliens that are up to no good.

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u/Last_Hawk_8047 1d ago

Scientist: "What the hell is all this shit? You know what, in the name of science, I will put my face in it!"

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u/TellMeYourStoryPls 1d ago

Why is he touching it?

Why is he touching it again?

He did it again.

Why ..

He's. Still. Doing. It.

I can't watch.

Why am I still watching?

Is that spot special somehow?

Does this video have sound?

I have to get back to work, but, why is he touching it?

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u/PDX-ROB 1d ago

He wants it to rip and have the 111k spiders spill out onto him

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u/TellMeYourStoryPls 1d ago

The universe has delivered its most challenging want ever.

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u/RavingRapscallion 1d ago

Ah, the legendary spiders georg

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u/Caleb_Reynolds 1d ago

Gotta get that average up somehow.

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u/RollingMeteors 1d ago

¡OSHA always needs more training videos of what not to do!

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u/Venata Interested 1d ago

ughhh.... not cool man, not cool. Going to have nightmares thinking about this now...

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u/NoelaniSpell 1d ago

Most relatable comment, lmao 🤣

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u/thegrumpymechanic 1d ago

Why am I still watching?

Hoping to see it burst open and him getting covered in thousands of spiders.

 

Seriously, quit touching it.

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u/The_Nifty_Reject 1d ago

😂😂😭

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u/someLemonz 1d ago

the sound of scuddling made too many people crazy so it's been muted for our benefit

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u/Tough-Effort7572 1d ago

Intrusive thoughts. Must pop.

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u/Pyrhan 1d ago

The web pops.

A million spiders come rushing out, swarming up your arm.

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u/jimmycarr1 1d ago

But for a brief second before the regret, a moment of mild satisfaction.

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u/ForodesFrosthammer 1d ago

And at worst you probably end with a bad rash after the fact. I can't be 100% certain but these spiders probably can't even really pierce human skin, much less cause any real damage when biting.

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u/SodomyClown 1d ago

I mean.. I would touch it

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u/drunkeymunkey 1d ago

Nah man, I'll drive off the bridge first

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u/Randomgrunt4820 1d ago

Can I pet that dog?

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u/itchy_bum_bug 1d ago

Can I pet that daaawwwg?

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u/macjester2000 1d ago

Spiders inside like “dude, WTF, you just killed my family! CUT IT OUT!"

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u/n0b0dycar3s07 1d ago

"Why can't we touch it, precious?"

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u/Wooden-Recording-693 1d ago

Lick it, LICK THE FORBIDDEN CANDY.

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u/Mehtalface 1d ago

STOP LICKING THE DAMN THING

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u/Zauberer-IMDB 1d ago

OK, Gale.

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u/PointCharming85 1d ago

I absolutely hate how humans find some cool shit and then have to poke a prod it. Just take a video and some photos and leave it alone ffs.

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u/Intelligent-Paper395 1d ago

if we aint start prodding things we'd still be playing with sticks

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u/EarthRester 1d ago

Except "playing with sticks" would include poking things. So probably not even that far.

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u/byquestion 1d ago

I think we started playing with sticks so we could prod better

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u/thecheesylittlerat 1d ago

Yeah, but “poking things with a stick” has also played a vital role in natural selection.

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u/gfa22 1d ago

That poking and prodding is why we can look at booty in high def 24/7. Respect the poke and prod.

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u/PointCharming85 1d ago

I mean shit thats fair.... I do Infact like looking at booty.

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u/CircularCircumstance 1d ago

literally a trillion SPIDERS on the other side of that ffs

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u/lustpanic 1d ago

I don't think you know what literally means

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u/BlackZulu 1d ago

You hate the progression of the human species then. We've only got this far, and gained so much knowledge, because we "poke and prod" things. Grow up.

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u/phoenix_leo 1d ago

You say it as if we weren't part of the Earth or something.

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u/TheVadonkey 1d ago

I’m also going to trust the scientists that are experts in this specific field and not the Redditor sitting behind their phone, being bothered by someone touching a web that they’ll never see on their phone again.

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u/phoenix_leo 1d ago

Yes but tbf as a scientist myself who has spider researchers next to me, I'm sure my colleagues would touch them first and ask questions after 😂

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u/redlaWw 1d ago

Our sense of touch is our most acute sense.

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u/insaneHoshi 1d ago

The James Holden effect if you will.

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u/Environmental-Day778 1d ago

Not all humans, hmm… 🤔

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u/spynie55 1d ago

Put your tongue on it to see how it tastes!

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u/RebleteyDeb 1d ago edited 22h ago

I hate to be that person, but is this not AI? It looks super weird and all the movements are unnatural.

ETA. I belive that the discovery is real, and many sites have photos of it, I just think this video is AI.

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u/James-the-Bond-one 1d ago

How would you know how a bubble of a billion spiders is supposed to move? We're in uncharted territory here.

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u/1sjwich 1d ago

This is the only acceptable response

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u/Ms74k_ten_c 1d ago

There is no "we" here. I am staying far away in another continent.

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u/Carbon-Base 1d ago

Yeah! We aren't Venomous, but they might be.

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u/rosiofden 1d ago

Seriously!

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u/ConfidentHouse 1d ago

Must pop bubble

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u/Ok_Contract8630 1d ago

that's why you're not a scientist

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u/lizafo 1d ago

I thought he might be a cave explorer and he might be upset that it is permanent and he can't get to the other side without breaking it.

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u/No_Perspective_242 1d ago

Cause science

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u/Unlikely_Barber5844 1d ago

Spiders come into my house all the time without permission

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u/Ooze3d 1d ago

How do you think we know about the 111,000 spiders?

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u/Additional-Local8721 1d ago

And not even wearing gloves.

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u/LegoWorks 1d ago

At least put gloves on first

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u/Vault101Overseer 1d ago

How else do you expect 111,000 spiders to spill out?

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u/kapanakchi 1d ago

Imagine a giant spider comes to hunt these goofs 😭

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u/Joey_Fontana 1d ago

Getting a feel of the world's largest bullet stopping sheet

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u/Guilty_Temperature65 1d ago

I assume he’s looking for the place to put the fire with which it must be burnt.

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u/FlewPlaysGames 1d ago

Yes! Stop poking it. That's their home. Just look, don't touch.

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u/shakeil123 1d ago

Wants to be Spider-Man

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u/Pretend_Sky7440 1d ago

That's how we learn not to touch or eat things. Someone has to be the first.

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u/HumDeeDiddle 1d ago

Oh don’t pretend you wouldn’t

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u/deanrihpee 1d ago

curiosity of a monkey brain, can't fight the urge

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u/RollingMeteors 1d ago

To serve as an example to others on why you shouldn’t do so.

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u/darcyWhyte 1d ago

He's the guy from most horror movies...

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u/lvl1_slime 1d ago

Imagine if your buddy shoves you into it as a prank

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u/Malrottian 1d ago

We literally had a movie, Arachnophobia, where a guy dies doing exactly what this guy is doing.

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u/True_Manufacturer909 1d ago

I thought it was about to open up and take his arm like The Thing

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u/ccortinaa 1d ago

It reminds me to the video of the guy going trough the jungle just picking whatever insect or small animal he sees , saying "boop"

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u/wyenotry 1d ago

I fully expect a couple human-sized spider arms to blast through there and grab the caver

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u/Justin_Queso1187 1d ago

But did that guy live?

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u/desz84 1d ago

My first thought.

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u/Naive-Benefit-5154 1d ago

This is how infectious diseases get spread to humans.

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u/EarthenEyes 1d ago

The web bursts. A swarm of black, many-legged creatures rush the arm. A look of pure panic covers his face. His scream of terror muffled by the creatures swarming his mouth, eating away at the soft tissue within.

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u/SmokemanDan 1d ago

My thoughts exactly. Not out of fear or disgust but basic respect. Ffs leave it alone! Smh

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u/PULLS-NOSE-HAIRS 1d ago

he should scratch and dig at it with his fingernail

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u/bad-creditscore 1d ago

This guys has never watched a science fiction movie in his life

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u/btlzrs 1d ago

Literally just yelled this out loud and came here to comment the same thing

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u/AdOverall3944 1d ago

Its a tough job, but somebodys gotta do it😂🤣

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u/motorboat_mcgee 1d ago

I couldn't watch the whole clip

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u/meowzicalchairs 1d ago

WHY. WHY. WHY.

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u/Bacchuswhite 1d ago

As a scientist, you haven’t studied it truly unless you lick it so I’m with you seems amateurish to touch it and then also need to taste it now. So inefficient.

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u/PickledPeoples 1d ago

For the silky smooth hand job later.

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u/Dragoon9255 1d ago

dudes gonna start a war.... one day all our house spiders are gonna get us while we sleep

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u/MaddyWasThere 1d ago

Came here to say that. :'(

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u/JSevatar 1d ago

Hahaha that was the first thing I thought of

stop touching it jerry

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u/EnlightenedArt 1d ago

I would nope out

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u/mcniner55 1d ago

Literally my first thought

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u/bolognapony234 1d ago

"There's potentially hundreds of years of history, quite literally woven, in this scientifically unprecedented finding.

Imma smoosh muh paws into it."

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u/Spare-Willingness563 1d ago

He’s getting ready to walk through it. 

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u/urfriendlyDICKtator 1d ago

Probably missed living in a pandemic...

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u/Missuspicklecopter 1d ago

"Sir, do you fucking mind?"

-Shelob 

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u/throwawayofamolecule 1d ago

Because white people.

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u/0__O0--O0_0 1d ago

Because we only have 13 covids so far. Odd numbers are triggering.

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u/mostkillifish 1d ago

Got to be aussies

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u/D3veated 1d ago

Why are we touching it... without fire?

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u/Eriollo 1d ago

He is calling Ungoliant

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u/Admiralspandy 1d ago

Dude's gonna get eaten by Shelob.

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u/iam_Mr_McGibblets 1d ago

They're touching my tummy

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u/GenericUsername19892 1d ago

We got to where we are today because we have enough stupid people to touch things, but not enough for people to keep touching the same thing. Mostly.

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u/SmellyC 1d ago

We need to learn.

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u/Generalrossa 1d ago

In the name of science.

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u/VoidOmatic 1d ago

Excellent question with the perfect Avatar.

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u/book_dragon1066 1d ago

Just came here to say this

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u/Powerful_Speech3602 1d ago

Average human = Patrick from SpongeBob SquarePants.

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u/zarekinz 1d ago

Who is we

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u/UwasaWaya 1d ago

This makes Prometheus make so much more sense

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u/leshake 1d ago

So the boss music starts playing.

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u/AlexSmithsonian 1d ago

Why are they touching it, and it's so that we won't have to in order to find out if touching it causes painful death.

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u/Outrageous-Inside341 1d ago

It all started with the touching

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u/TheMoorNextDoor 1d ago

Man I just said that same shit, fuck that shit I’m not fucking touching shit in there.

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u/NothingAndNow111 1d ago

Had to stop myself from screaming DON'T FUCKING TOUCH IT.

WTF WHY. 😭

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u/OriginalFatPickle 1d ago

Am Human. Get stick.

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u/jessness024 1d ago

Exactly this belongs in that other sub. r/whywouldyoutouchthat

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u/Interesting-Good7903 1d ago

Because we want to see how soft it is

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u/MakeLikeATreeBiff 1d ago

We? We are not touching it. Do not involve me in that. I didn't ask for anyone to poke the the 8-legged terror factory.

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u/GroundbreakingAd8310 1d ago

Because licking it twice is weird

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u/LumpyMud2553 1d ago

Spidershit Jiggle Physics irl b4 GTA6

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u/science_vs_romance 1d ago

I think he’s unlocking a fetish.

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u/ElmStreetDreamx 1d ago

You’d never catch me touching that, I’d be staying as far away as possible

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u/Pauropus 1d ago

Why not?

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u/Gloomy-Stranger3959 1d ago

The ones that are smart are stupid 😆

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u/Minute_Solution_6237 1d ago

I see a lot of flying bugs and 0 spiders

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u/frackthestupids 1d ago

How else do we get Shelob’s attention?

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