Do you all remember the scene from Charlotte’s Web when Charlotte’s newly born spider children began to “fly” away to follow the breeze? Well, according to the article "Spiders Can Fly Hundreds of Miles Using Electricity," the spiders were using a technique that has been long known to scientists called ballooning. 

Until recently, scientists believed that ballooning is caused by the silk that spiders produce catching the wind, and therefore transporting the spider along with it. This theory is a little faulty as spiders usually balloon at lower wind speeds, contrary to what this theory implies. Winds are also probably not strong enough to transport the larger species of spiders. Lastly, Spiders also do not shoot silk from their abdomens.

Erica Morely and Daniel Robert from the University of Bristol have an answer. Their findings reveal that spiders can actually sense the Earth’s electric field, and the voltage from the air is what propels them. 

The surface of the Earth has a negative charge, while the atmosphere above has a positive charge. This difference, along with the thousands of thunderstorms, turns “Earth’s atmosphere into a giant electrical circuit,” giving spiders the energy they need to propel themselves and move through the air. The silk that comes out of their bodies has a negative charge, which will repel the positive charge of Earth’s surface. Even though air currents do play a part, electrostatic currents are enough to propel spiders.

After reading this explanation, I wonder if there is any way we can also balloon similarly to spiders to travel vast distances quite efficiently and without the use of fossil fuels. I think this would preserve our Earth’s natural resources and over time will reduce the financial and time costs of short and long-distance travel. 

As humans, we obviously cannot detect the electrical currents in our atmosphere, but if we could make small devices that could, we could use them to know when to take flight. I am also not suggesting that we all turn into Spiderman and genetically modify ourselves to start randomly shooting silk out of various body parts. I think a strong material like silk would be attached to our bodies. With an oxygen mask, we can balloon across distances long and short. We could balloon to school or work daily, or to our favorite vacation spots thousands of miles away.

It may sound outlandish and bizarre now, but we have always applied the concepts of nature to improve the lives of humans. People always complain about the horrible train, plane, and car rides; this concept may just be what they need. I think the technique of ballooning being applied to humans, will revolutionize travel and increase the quality of life.