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NEW YORK (AP) — It’s a question that keeps some scientists awake at night: Do spiders sleep?

Daniela Roessler and her colleagues trained cameras on baby jumping spiders at night to find out. The footage showed patterns that looked a lot like sleep cycles: The spiders’ legs twitched and parts of their eyes flickered.

The researchers described this pattern as a “REM sleep-like state.” In humans, REM, or rapid eye movement, is an active phase of sleep when parts of the brain light up with activity and is closely linked with dreaming.

Other animals, including some birds and mammals, have been shown to experience REM sleep. But creatures like the jumping spider haven’t gotten as much attention so it wasn’t known if they got the same kind of sleep, said Roessler, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Konstanz in Germany.

Their findings were published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Roessler and her team dug into the sleep question after she discovered the spiders hanging at night from threads of silk in their lab containers. She had recently scooped up some jumping spiders to study, a common species with a furry brown body and four pairs of big eyes.

“It was just the most unusual thing I’ve ever seen,” Roessler said of the suspended spiders.

The research showed the spiders’ overnight movements looked a lot like REM in other species, she said — like dogs or cats twitching in their sleep. And they happened in regular cycles, similar to sleep patterns in humans.

Many species similar to spiders actually don’t have movable eyes, which makes it hard to compare their sleep cycles, explained study co-author Paul Shamble, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard University.

But these jumping spiders are predators that move their retinas around to change their gaze while they hunt, Shamble said. Plus, the young spiders have a see-through outer layer that gives a clear window into their bodies.

“Sometimes as a biologist, you just get really, really lucky,” Shamble said.

The researchers still have to figure out if the spiders are technically sleeping while they’re in these resting states, Roessler said. That includes testing whether they respond more slowly — or not at all — to triggers that would normally set them off.

Critters like the jumping spider are very far from humans on the evolutionary tree. Jerry Siegel, a sleep researcher who was not involved with the study, said he’s doubtful that the spiders can really experience REM sleep.

“There may be animals that have activity in quiet states,” said Siegel, of the UCLA Center for Sleep Research. “But are they REM sleep? It’s hard to imagine that they could be the same thing.”

But Barrett Klein, an entomologist at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse who was also not involved with the study, said it was exciting to find REM-like signs in such a distant relative. Many questions remain about how widespread REM sleep is and what purpose it might serve for species, he said.

REM sleep is “still very much a black box,” Klein said.

(FOX) A Utah man was arrested Saturday after authorities say he stole an excavator from a construction site and drove it a mile to a grocery store in Salt Lake City, where he used the machinery to rip up the parking lot.

Police began investigating around 12 p.m. after receiving calls about a man "randomly" digging a grass strip and sidewalk outside Smith's grocery store at 828 South 900 West, the Salt Lake Police Department said.

Video and photos shared by the department show a freshly dug muddy trench in the store's parking lot.

Police said the suspect caused significant damage after hitting a water pipe and ripping out fiber optics utility lines that were recently installed. Utility crews determined there was no gas leak and were assessing the extent of the damage.

The suspect had hopped into the excavator which had been left running while at a job site at 900 South 300 West, police said. Construction crew members followed the suspect to the grocery store, where he commenced the destruction. It was unclear why the man allegedly stole the heavy machinery.

A group of witnesses stopped the suspect from leaving the scene until officers arrived.

The suspect was taken into custody without incident and was expected to be booked into the Salt Lake County Metro Jail on charges of felony theft and felony criminal mischief, according to authorities. His name and age were withheld until the booking process was complete.

Police said no injuries were reported and no crashes occurred while the excavator was being illegally operated.

(NBC) It's so oppressive out there, even the geese can't stand it.

One actually tried to infiltrate a Long Island home through the air conditioning well over the weekend, Suffolk County cops say.

The bird got stuck for two days but a trained officer eventually managed to pull it out.

It wasn't clear if the goose was hurt in the two-day ordeal but it was seen moving around in a laundry basket after the rescue.

Watch those AC wells, Suffolk County.

Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Officials in Christchurch, New Zealand, said a crew demolishing an old monument made an unusual discovery: a message in a bottle from the original stonemason team.

The Christchurch City Council said the crew working to dismantle the Citizens' War Memorial found the glass bottle when they cracked the concrete in exactly the right spot to reveal the hidden object.

"It was a fluke discovery," Brent Smith, the council's head of vertical capital delivery, said in a news release. "The contractor was working on dismantling the concrete core of the memorial when a big chunk of concrete broke off, revealing the glass bottle. If the concrete had not broken in that exact spot, we would never have found it."

The damaged note inside the bottle was dated February 1937 and contained a list of names of the stonemasons who originally constructed the monument.

"The note is a bit worse for wear but it is an amazing link to the past that could easily have laid undiscovered," Smith said.

The mason team that deconstructed the memorial to transport it to its new home in Cathedral Square said the discovery was meaningful to them.

"This discovery is a reminder of the rich history and tradition we're helping to preserve. It is humbling to be working on such an important memorial," said Goldfield Stone stonemason Regan Shanks.

Smith said officials are planning to include a photo of the original note in a time capsule to be buried at the memorial's new site.

Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Animal rescuers in Iowa said they have successfully captured a peacock that was on the loose for multiple days in a residential neighborhood.

Residents of the Merle Hay neighborhood in Des Moines said the peacock was first spotted more than 30 feet up in a tree Wednesday in Jordan Stenger's front yard.

"When I first saw it I couldn't get a very good look at it," Stenger told the Des Moines Register. "You could tell that it wasn't like a hawk or like another big bird. He just kind of stayed still for a long time. He had its neck back, like, resting on his body."

The peacock was spotted again on Thursday, moving from trees to rooftops to yards in the neighborhood.

The Animal Rescue League of Iowa said the peacock was successfully captured Saturday night. Officials said the bird, named Jimmy, will hopefully be returned to his owners, although keeping peacocks as pets is not legal inside the city.

"Every animal is a little bit different. We have had some peacocks. We know a little bit of how to work with peacocks, but it's been fun figuring out what snacks Jimmy likes. I heard he likes cashews," Jessie Phillips with the Animal Rescue League of Iowa told KCCI-TV.

Aug. 8 (UPI) -- A New York-based mattress company is seeking professional "sleepers" to get paid for taking naps and documenting the experience on social media.

Casper, a mattress firm founded in 2014, said on its website that it is hiring "Casper Sleepers" willing to snooze "in our stores, and in unexpected settings out in the world."

The chosen candidates will document their napping experiences on social media.

The listing says ideal candidates should have "exceptional sleeping ability," the "desire to sleep as much as possible" and an "ability to sleep through anything."

Applications are being accepted through Aug. 11.

PASS CHRISTIAN, Miss. (AP) — Beach crews have found the first sea turtle nest on the Mississippi mainland in four years.

A Harrison County Sand Beach crew that was cleaning up found what appeared to be turtle tracks just east of the Pass Christian Harbor, officials said.

They protected the area and called the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, which followed the tracks to a nesting site that is now marked off with stakes and tape.

The eggs likely belong to a protected loggerhead sea turtle or an even rarer Kemp's ridley sea turtle, which is the most critically endangered species of sea turtle, said Moby Solangi, president of the marine studies group.

The exact species of turtle won't be known until the eggs hatch in 50 to 60 days. Only about 1 in 10,000 sea turtle eggs reach adulthood. Turtles lay between 60 to 100 eggs in a nest and have multiple nests during a season, Solangi told The Sun Herald in Biloxi.

This is the first sea turtle nest on mainland Mississippi since 2018, although there have been unofficial reports of nests on uninhabited barrier islands, officials said.

The Mississippi Sound and Gulf of Mexico are important sea turtle habitats, but the 2010 oil spill and the 2019 opening of the Bonnet Carré Spillway hurt the turtle population, Solangi said.

"After all the environmental disasters we've had, this is a good sign. When (turtle populations) have gone down, it means the ecosystem that supports them is having difficulty. When animals start breeding, it means things have started to get better," Solangi said.

Here's your chance to earn some sand dollars.

Hotels.com is looking to hire a Retro Beach Motelier, who will visit several retro beach motels across the United States and enjoy oceanside views in 1950s style.

The itinerary is comprised of Hotels.com'sbest retro beach motels across America, including The Pearl Hotel in San Diego, California, and Vagabond Hotel in Miami, Florida. The list is based on guest ratings, overall design, value and location, the company said in a news release.

The motelier will be equipped with old school accessories, including SPF zinc, striped umbrellas, vintage sunnies, cooler and even a solar-powered AM/FM radio to enjoy some tunes. The job will comprise of offline activities, such as documenting the trip "for future generations" using a classic polaroid camera.

The professional vacationer will be given a $10,000 stipend to cover travel expenses, and a $5,000 salary to spend on classic beachside snacks, like salt water taffy, frozen custard and snow cones.

"Travelers these days tend to search for all-inclusive hotels and resorts when planning their summer getaways, but our Retro Beach Motelier is out to prove that beach motels can be just as luxurious," said Melissa Dohmen of Hotels.com. "These timeless motels are not only budget-friendly but will transport beachgoers — literally and figuratively — back in time to truly disconnect and relax."

Those who don't want to travel solo can bring a guest to join in on the fun.

To apply for the position, complete an online application. You'll need to include your Instagram handle to show Hotels.com your photo snapping skills.

Aug. 5 (UPI) -- A Montana couple said they are in the market for a new car after a bear entered their vehicle and ended up spending the night when the door closed behind the animal.

Mike and Maria Pilati said their car alarm went off while the vehicle was parked outside their Red Lodge home Wednesday night and a quick investigation determined a mother bear had entered the vehicle while her cubs watched from nearby.

"We called the sheriff's department and said, 'There's a bear breaking into our car,'" Mike Pilati told KTVQ-TV.

The sheriff's office put the couple in contact with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks personnel. The couple said they were told someone would come to their house in the morning, as they had not yet realized the bear was closed inside the vehicle.

"Every once in a while you'd hear a crunch. I thought it had a garbage can it was chomping on or something. But it was my car it was crunching up," Mike Pilati said.

Pilati said he only realized in the morning that the door had closed behind the bear, trapping the animal inside the vehicle for nearly eight hours.

The homeowner said he decided not to wait for FWP officials and used a stick to open the car door from a safe distance, freeing the mother bear.

Maria Pilati posted photos and videos to Facebook showing the damage the bear left behind.

The couple said the car is completely trashed.

"Now we call it a Su-bear-ru," Maria Pilati said.

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