The science of ants' underground cities

Picture an anthill. What do you see? A small mound of sand and crumbly dirt poking up through the lawn? A tiny hole disappearing into the ground? A few ants scrambling around busily. Not very impressive, right?

Helical locomotion in a granular medium by a 'sand robot'

Moving within granular media such as sand is a trick that occurs not only in science-fiction movies. The sandfish lizard, which lives in the desert, is also able to perform this task. In order to do so, this lizard behaves ...

Physicists discover mechanism behind granular capillary effect

Dipping a tube into a container filled with water will make the water rise in the tube. This phenomenon is called liquid capillarity. It is responsible for many natural and technical processes, for example the water absorption ...

Feeling the force between sand grains

For the first time, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have measured how forces move through 3D granular materials, determining how this important class of materials might pack and behave in processes ...

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