It Girl

every tongue. Royals and aristocrats waited patiently to meet her. Crowds would gather wherever she went out in public, rich or poor, royal or commoner. Everyone wanted a glimpse of the beauty from India, with the large, gentle eyes and the prominent nose. It didn't hurt that Clara had a sob story to melt even the coldest of hearts. She was born in the Indian state of Assam. In seventeen thirty eight. When she was barely a month old, her

mother was murdered. Fortunately, Clara was adopted by a man from the Netherlands who turned out to be a director of the Dutch East India Company in West Bengal. Clara grew up on his estate in Kolkata. She had free reign of the grounds, with valets to see to everything she needed, But as she grew her busy adoptive father struggled to keep her occupied. So he did what any affluent eighteenth century father would have done when they wanted to get their teen daughters out of their hair. He

sent Clara on a grand tour of Europe. At what a tour it was. In July of seventeen forty one, after months at sea, Clara stepped on the dry land in the port city of Rotterdam. As soon as she was off the ship, people couldn't stop staring. The Dutch had never seen anyone like her before. By them, she was a symbol of the exotic East, where their spices and textiles came from, but where they had never imagined traveling themselves. After the Netherlands, Clara traveled to Antwerp, Brussels,

and Hamburg. In Berlin, she met King Frederic the Second of Prussia. In Vienna, she was introduced to Emperor Francis the First and Empress Maria Theresa. She even stayed with Louis the fifteenth at his estate in Versailles. Then it was on to Paris, Rome and London. Because she spent so much time on the road, a special carriage was constructed to carry her from city to city. It had a single small window in the side so that the

public could peek in at her for a price. In addition to royals and aristocrats, Clara met a steady stream of artists. She was immortalized in etchings, engravings, and even a clay model. In seventeen forty nine, she was painted by the French Rococo artist Jean Baptiste Ooudri, and in seventeen fifty one by Pietro Longhi. Clara was also popular with scientists and naturalists who had never had the chance to study someone of her ancestry. Sketches and paintings of

her made their way into anatomical atlases and textbooks. She became the subject of songs and poems. Her face was printed on trinkets and memorabilia and sold to the adoring public. One of the most popular pieces was a golden clock held up by a figurine of Clara standing on top of music box. Clara's tour ended up lasting far longer than most young socialites. She spent decades in Europe and

never again returned to India. While she was given ample rest between appearances, the constant traveling inevitably took its toll. Clara developed a skin condition and had to have fish oil rubbed all over her body to keep it from drying out. She also injured her nose while traveling in Italy around seventeen fifty, although it eventually healed. Not much is known about Clara's death Sadly, besides the fact that she passed away during a series of appearances in London

in seventeen fifty eight. Lived a long life and by most accounts, had been relatively comfortable, but it seems likely that she was also lonely. Clara might have been surrounded by friends and fans, but she didn't have anyone who could really relate to her experience. From the moment she arrived in Europe until her death, she never saw another face like hers. I don't mean just anyone else from India.

Clara was kept away from other members of her own species because there's something that maybe I should have mentioned before. Clara was a rhinoceros. The mysteries of outer space have fascinated humankind for as long as we have been around. Islamic astronomers mapped the stars, Copernicus discovered the Sun was the center of our universe, and Isaac Newton is at least credited with discovering gravity. Today, many believe the secrets of our very existence are held among the stars. They

wonder where do our souls go after we die? What even is a soul? These are big questions, but the elements in our bodies were originally formed in stars. After all. Others turned to the stars for more concrete answers about our existence, like can we survive on Mars? But before billionaires set to colonize entire planets, scientists took an unusual approach to studying how the human body works in space.

In nineteen seventy two, the National Aeronautics in Space Administration NASA prepared its launch of Skylab three, the third in a series of American research missions into space. Keeping the tradition from Skylabs one and two, NASA invited high school students nationwide to propose experiments. One of those chosen was thought up by a Massachusetts student named Judith miles. Judith had read some National Geographic reports about drug research, specifically

the effects of certain drugs on spider's central nervous systems. Now, you might be wondering why spiders, why not something like mice or monkeys. Well, as it turns out, NASA experiments on spiders date back to nineteen forty eight, when a Swiss pharmacologist named Peter n Witt teamed up with the administration to study the effects of caffeine and phetamines and

even LSD on spider's nervous systems. These eight legged web weavers were thought as the ideal test subjects because of their webs, which could provide a visual depiction of the states of their command center. But young Judith took this step further. She knew that a spider's sense of its own body weight was an important factor in its web making ability, and so she wondered what would a web

look like when made in microgravity? And her question was compelling enough for NASA to find two cross spiders, feed them a meal of one housefly each, load them into glass cages about fifteen inches long and one inch deep, and then launched them into space. Oh but not before name them too, Arabella and Anita. Upon arriving in the thermosphere, the spiders did nothing. They hid in the corners of

their cages. Actually, reports on the exact timing vary, but the crew didn't see them for at least a day. They checked in often, especially since they had to man the lights that simulated daytime and nighttime for the spiders. As they waited for Arabella and Anita to show any sign of life, the two legged astronauts got their bearings. Skylab was split into two levels, separated by cross hatched beams.

A center beam ran straight across, so the crew could pull themselves from one side of the workshop to the other. But once in microgravity, they realized that pushing off the walls and swimming through the air was much more efficient or at least more fun. At some point, though, science

pilot Owen Garriot got antsy. He propelled himself to Arabella's cage and tried to shake her out of her hiding spot, and once dislodged, Arabella bounced around like an early aught screensaver until she managed to grab onto some mesh near the edge of her cave. There she froze, and she stayed that way until Garriot floated away. No one was around to witness the moment Arabella got back up. Footage shows the grueling process she endured before Gariot and the

rest of the crew found her first space web. In microgravity, she was barely able to repel, connect and walk along the lines. She lost her grip and went tumbling multiple times. Often she hit the wall of her cage and lay defeated, And in the end, her finished webs just resembled the ones that were made by Peter Witz drug spiders, saggy strands that varied in thickness, nothing like those taut even

webs that we see here on Earth. But by day three in space, Arabella realized how the rules had changed. Instead of repelling, she connected short lines within the inch of space between the cage walls, forming a sort of bridge. This allowed her to keep her footing while she measured out small spirals with her hind legs. It was like she noticed the labs crosshatches and figured that something like

that might work for her. By the time Garriot returned to check on Arabella, she had finished her first web. This web gave some interesting insights into Arabella's thought process. Its shape and structure were solid. However, she decided not to use trapping silk like she would on Earth. This tells us that instead of trying and failing over and over to weave a complete web in one go, she

simply laid a foundation. The lesson resonated with Earthlings. Footage of Arabella aired on CBS Morning News, and a few other high profile news outlets also cover the story. Anita also wove her first web shortly after Arabella, but it seems that Arabella's tenacity captured more attention. It seems none were more taken with Arabella than Owen. Garriot reports mentioned that he requested to keep her alive longer than originally planned.

I assumed that the crew did the same for Anita. Eventually, both spiders died in space, most likely due to dehydration, and both their bodies have been displayed at the National Air and Space Museum and elsewhere where onlookers could gaze upon their small bodies the same way those early astronomers gazed upwards toward the sky, wanting to know just a little bit more about themselves. I hope you've enjoyed today's

guided tour of the cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can learn all about it over at the Worldoflore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.