SINAPSE researcher, Gavin Merrifield has applied MRI techniques to understand the inner workings of a tarantula. MRI scans of blood flowing through the spider’s heart, revealed a double heart beat to push blood around the spiders body. Details of his research were presented at the Society for Experimental Biology meeting, 1st – 4th July 2011, in the SECC, Glasgow. “In the videos, you can see the blood flowing through the heart and tantalisingly it looks as though there might be ‘double beating’ occurring, a distinct type of contraction which has never been considered before,” says SINAPSE PhD researcher Gavin Merrifield of the University of Edinburgh.
