> Going back to the 1940s, researchers have exposed spiders to caffeine, amphetamines, LSD and other drugs, attracting plenty of media attention along the way.

> Going back to the 1940s, researchers have exposed spiders to caffeine, amphetamines, LSD and other drugs, attracting plenty of media attention along the way. Unsurprisingly, these spiders make addled, irregular webs. Huh. Photos of these webs were featured in a Time-Life book on drugs my parents left out for me in the 1960's. My brother and I were entranced, perhaps not the intended effect. Each web did convey the drug in question. Years later I described these spiderwebs to the storyboard artists for "A Beautiful Mind", influencing the "mad shack" set design.