Science & Society: Fear To Fascination

Note the change of date and slight change of venue. We had to make this change because our original date is now a bank holiday to mark the passing of the queen and Tūranga will be closed on that day.

This is part of 'Science & Society', a series of free public talks about science, technology, and the humanities from the Canterbury Branch of the Royal Society

Fear to fascination: International spider adventures

Dr Fiona Cross, University of Canterbury

Fiona used to treat spiders with fear and loathing, but once she took the time to learn more about them it opened up a world full of discovery and adventure. In particular, she works with jumping spiders (family Salticidae), which have unique, complex eyes and a capacity for spatial vision exceeding that for any other animals of similar size. Despite having brains that would comfortably fit on pinheads, some salticid species have been observed to make use of selective attention, working memory and problem solving in their everyday lives, these being cognitive topics traditionally ascribed to animals with much bigger brains. Studying these spiders help us gain important insights into animal cognition by challenging long-held biases of what an animal with a tiny brain is capable of doing.