Almost 100 million years ago, a tiny and misfortunate beetle died after wandering into a sticky glob of resin leaking from a tree in a region near present-day Southeast Asia. Fossilized in amber, this beetle eventually made ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 17, 2019
1
115
Move over, trap-jaw ants and mantis shrimp: There's a faster appendage in town. According to a new study, the Dracula ant, Mystrium camillae, can snap its mandibles at speeds of up to 90 meters per second (more than 200 mph), ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 11, 2018
1
549
The Gaia satellite has spotted an enormous 'ghost' galaxy lurking on the outskirts of the Milky Way.
Astronomy
Nov 13, 2018
91
677
Plants are boring. They just sit there photosynthesizing while animals have all the fun. Right? Not so much. Take a look at the interactions between ants and plants—plants have evolved features specifically to make them ...
Evolution
Nov 12, 2018
62
766
Scientists at McGill have found the answer to a question that perplexed Charles Darwin. So much so, that it actually led him to doubt his own theory of evolution. He wondered, if natural selection works at the level of the ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 10, 2018
7
323
Some 50 million years before humans figured it out, agriculture arrived in the world in a seemingly unlikely place: an ant hill.
Plants & Animals
Oct 1, 2018
0
159
For ants and robots operating in confined spaces like tunnels, having more workers does not necessarily mean getting more work done. Just as too many cooks in a kitchen get in each other's way, having too many robots in tunnels ...
General Physics
Aug 16, 2018
2
466
Worker ants, despite their diligence, seldom encounter opportunities for social mobility. In many species, individuals adhere to strict caste roles: queens lay eggs and workers take care of almost everything else, including ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 26, 2018
2
145
Two researchers, one with Biofaction in Austria, the other with Université de Toulouse in France, report an example of ants (Azteca brevis) in Costa Rica who have developed a truly unique way of capturing prey that are much ...
A fungal parasite that infects ants and manipulates their behavior to benefit the fungus' reproduction accomplishes this feat without infecting the ants' brains, according to a study led by Penn State researchers.
Plants & Animals
Nov 7, 2017
2
1535
