Arachnophobics the world over have often turned to a folk tale that suggests placing conkers along one’s skirting boards or at the edges of doorways might somehow deter spiders from entering a building. The modern scientific brain might wonder whether it is some odour chemical released by the fruit of the horse chestnut tree that sends the arachnids scuttling back to whence they came or perhaps the waxy glossiness of the kids favourite autumnal twine-suspended weapon…
The truth is far worse and not good news for those with arachnophobia. Apparently, RSC (Royal Society of Chemistry), not to be confused with the far less dramatic RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company) ran a schools competition to get to the nub of the mystery – are spiders repelled by conkers or not?
Well, a great victory for British science education and scientific nous reveals the answer in the following video: