Description
Creepy. Cannibalistic. And thriving in metro Phoenix. Inside ASU's Black Widow Lab on the West Valley campus, researchers are studying what helps some Western black widows flourish in urban environments where temperatures are significantly hotter than in the surrounding desert.
Two Barrett honors students, both forensic science majors working as research aides in the lab, are comparing black widows in urban areas to those found in the desert. Their research seeks to determine if warming urban conditions affect gene activity that could help black widows adapt to a warming world — unlocking secrets that may be useful to our own species’ adaptation.
Explore more ASU Research That Matters at https://news.asu.edu/research-matters.
Learn about the only School of Interdisciplinary Forensics in the U.S. at https://forensics.asu.edu/.
From Season 3, Episode 10, originally aired on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026.
Catch the next episode of ASU All Access on FOX 10 on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026, at 10 a.m. and see more from FOX 10 at https://www.fox10phoenix.com/tag/series/asu-all-access
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