Spidernaut

Told in the first person as if written by Arabella herself, she describes how she was the first spider to spin a web in space in 1973, and even made it into the Guinness Book of World Records. Reading Arabella's diary and the story, we learn how spiders spin webs and why this experiment, suggested by a high school student, was important.

Read Along or Enhanced eBook: Most spiders spin a web and passively wait for prey to come to them. Jumping spiders, by contrast, actively hunt by jumping to catch their food. What if a jumping spider was sent to the International Space Station? When it jumped, it would simply float. No one knew if the spider could hunt in a weightless environment. This nonfiction picture book for elementary kids chronicles the amazing voyage of Nefertiti, the Spidernaut to the International Space Station and back. She’s a Phiddipus johnsonii, or Johnson jumping spider, native to western United States. Her colorful anatomy—red, black and teal—made for stunning photography and video. In 2012, Nefertitti clocked a record-breaking 100 days in space, during which time she circled Earth about 1584 times, traveling about 41,580,000 miles.

Many people think that spiders are insects. But spiders are different to insects. Their bodies have two main parts, not three. They have eight legs, not six. What else do you know about spiders?

THE AMAZING VOYAGE OF NEFERTITI, THE SPIDERNAUT Can a Phiddipus johnsonii, or Johnson jumping spider, survive 100 days on the International Space Station? Astronaut Sunita Williams, Captain U.S. Navy said, "It was a suspense story for me. . ." Join Nefertiti as she circles Earth 1584 times and discover if she survives.

With their unique ability to spin silk that is stronger than steel, spiders make cunning traps as well as beautiful webs. This book brings you up close to these brilliant engineers, aerial acrobats, and super-successful predators. Discover the trap-door spider that can pull 38 times its own weight, the diving bell spider that lives its whole life in water, the bird-dropping spider that is a master of disguise, and more! Learn some fascinating secrets about the world's most interesting—and deadly—spiders. You'll never look at your eight-legged friends the same way again!

Audisee® eBooks with Audio combine professional narration and sentence highlighting to engage reluctant readers! Did you know that astronauts work on Earth and in space to study places beyond our planet's atmosphere? But there's a lot more to space travel than just research. With no gravity, a wild schedule that includes sixteen sunrises and sixteen sunsets every twenty-four hours, and no fresh food, it can be a challenge to stay healthy in orbit. Public and private space agencies are working to solve these problems as humans travel farther and more frequently into the depths of space. Learn more about the daily lives of astronauts and how they live, work, and prepare for the future in space.

"But you don't have to look that far to appreciate the benefits of space exploration: commercialized NASA technology-known as NASA spinoffs-can be found in your phone, furniture, and car ... NASA is making sure as many of these innovations as possible go beyond their original use to benefit the public"--Page 5

Telepresence: Actual and Virtual explores the history of telepresence from the 1948 developments of master–slave manipulation, through to current telepresence technology used in space, undersea, surgery and telemedicine, operations in nuclear and other hazardous environments, policing and surveillance, agriculture, construction, mining, warehousing, education, amusement, social media, and other contexts. It also describes the various operator hand and body controls and the corresponding telerobotic actuation of robotic hands, arms, and locomotion. This book reviews the sensing and control technology, its history and likely future, and discusses the many research and policy issues that are raised. The book also takes up key questions relating to social and ethical issues, given that a person’s mechanical reach is becoming unlimited, enabling one to perform mischievous or harmful acts without identification, and what that portends for future developments in telepresence, including regulation and recommended directions of development. The primary audience for this book is professionals interested in human–robot interaction, human factors engineering, virtual reality, applications to space and undersea exploration, telemedicine and telesurgery, firefighting, mechanized agriculture, policing, drone surveillance, warehouse parts' fetching, mining, and military operations.

Introduces jumping spiders, describing their physical characteristics, life cycle, habitat, diet, and behavior.

Meet Roderick—a scrawny, unremarkable teenager keeping a diary of his life in the Middle Ages. When he’s chosen to become a knight on a quest to find a holy relic (the fingers of St. Stephen), Roderick is determined to prove his honor and graduate from zero to hero.