Flapping insects build up an electrical charge that may make
them more easily snared by spider webs, according to a new study by University
of California, Berkeley, biologists.
The positive charge on an insect such as a bee or fly
attracts the web, which is normally negatively or neutrally charged, increasing
the chances that an insect flying by will contact and stick to the web, said UC
Berkeley post-doctoral fellow Victor Manuel Ortega-Jimenez.