A new 3D scanner, which photographs small animal specimens in meticulous detail, is also being used to teach computers how to spot and track critters.
Evolution
Apr 12, 2021
0
86
Imagine millions of leafcutter ants on parade through a tropical forest. Driven by a craving mysterious to humans, they suddenly stream up a towering tree trunk. How do they know exactly which species of leaves to cut for ...
Evolution
Oct 26, 2020
0
158
Leafcutter ants such as Atta sexdens or Acromyrmex lobicornis face two major challenges when they leave the safety of the nest to forage: choosing the best plants from which to collect leaves and avoiding being surprised ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 17, 2019
0
11
Humans began cultivating crops about 12,000 years ago. Ants have been at it rather longer. Leafcutter ants, the best-known insect farmers, belong to a lineage of insects that have been running fungus farms based on chopped-up ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 24, 2019
0
2
Tropical forests are one of the largest natural sources of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O), and a tiny insect may play a big role in how those emissions are spread out across the landscape.
Environment
Jan 9, 2019
2
127
Factories mass produce goods for society and many emit greenhouse gases in the process, but not all are run by humans. Some factories lie underground and are operated around the clock by tireless six-legged workers.
Environment
Dec 18, 2018
0
35
Scientists probing one of the mysteries of the insect world have identified a powerful chemical weapon used in the arms race between fungus-farming leafcutter ants and the parasites that plague them.
Plants & Animals
Jun 7, 2018
0
154
A complex genetic analysis has biologists re-evaluating some long-held beliefs about the way societies evolved following the invention of agriculture—by six-legged farmers.
Plants & Animals
May 9, 2018
0
50
A group of South American ants has farmed fungi since shortly after the dinosaurs died out, according to an international research team including Smithsonian scientists. The genes of the ant farmers and their fungal crops ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 20, 2016
0
815
Deploying multiple videos in a University of Oregon lab, scientists have documented never-before-seen views of leafcutter ants at work processing leaves and growing their food supply in their nests.
Plants & Animals
Jan 28, 2016
0
118
