The tarantella began as a frantic ritual believed to sweat out deadly venom. More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. Napoli artist Filippo Falciatore painted this image of Italians dancing the tarantella, entitled Tarantella at Mergellina, around 1750. There's a chance that if you visited southern Italy during the Middle Ages, you might happen upon a port town where people were dancing uncontrollably in the streets. You'd find them frantically spinning, jumping even crawling on the ground.

While we've seen scientists find novel ways to use insects after they're dead, it's hard to imagine any group of researchers topping the work of a team from Rice University that turned lifeless wolf spiders into "necrobotic" grippers. Yes, you read that right – and, no, you're not the only one with a sudden phantom itch. How did we get here? Well, I'm glad you asked. Let's start with an anatomy lesson.

From our every day perspective, the insects and spiders that surround us usually appear to encased inside smooth and shiny exoskeletons. But a new selection of macro-images reveal that if we were to meet these miniature beasts at their own level, we would discover their bodies are actually covered in thick fur, fur like bristles and scales that look almost like feathers. The world of the small has been brought into focus in stunning detail thanks to a series of macro photographs from an amateur wildlife photographer, which reveals the creatures as very different from how we normally see them. The incredible series of images show insects and arachnids in stunning detail. Captured by Russian software architect Vasily Menshov, the series reveals the hairy antennae of mosquitoes, the feather like scales of butterflies and the alien-like appearance of hoverflies.