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Jumping ant robots use teamwork to overcome obstacles
If you've ever marveled at a team of ants working together to carry a huge morsel of food or navigate around objects, you've seen how effective a collective intelligence made up of simple individual units can be.
After Math: Oh, balls
It was a stellar week for spheroids, both the physical and metaphorical varieties. NASA discovered seven new planets (three of which are habitable) just 40 light years away. Ants on golf balls are teaching scientists about insectoid navigation skills. Facebook wants to be a sports broadcaster and the NBA hopes that VR will help revolutionize the game. Numbers, because that's how we keep score.
Gene-altered ants show how animal societies work
How much is societal behavior dictated by genetics? Scientists at Rockefeller University might just find out through ant colonies. They've modified the genes of clonal raider ants (not shown above) to see how the changes affect social behavior, both individually and on a grander scale. Knocking out genes for odorant receptors leads to "lone wolf" ants who wander by themselves for days, for example. The team keeps track of these exceptions by painting the ants in such a way that computers can track them all day, spotting even slight deviations from the norm.
Six tiny robots can pull a two-ton car
Stanford university's uBots have pulled off a feat that makes ants look like slackers. Working in concert, six of the robots managed to tow a 3,900 pound car, despite weighing just a half-ounce each -- much less than other car-towing robots. The secret, according to the team, is biomimicry. The wee bots are designed to imitate gecko lizards with sticky feet that can support a heavy load but still detach easily. In previous experiments, that allowed them to climb up walls and pull heavy weights. This time, the robots are channeling ants by working as a team to pull a heavy load.
ICYMI: Mind-controlled prosthetics, architect ants and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-459334{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-459334, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-459334{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-459334").style.display="none";}catch(e){} Today on In Case You Missed It: Johns Hopkins University researchers surgically repositioned a patient's nerves and also implanted a prosthetic adapter to use mind control on his prosthetic arm. French researchers learned that common ants are able to communicate how something should be constructed by leaving pheromone-based instructions on whatever they're building. And the OneCook smart appliance works by having the fresh ingredients loaded into the cooker hybrid, then lets people control adjust the recipe and let it do the rest from an app. It just launched on Kickstarter.
Fire ants can act as an organic super-material by playing dead
Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have discovered a material so versatile that it can form solid objects, bend under pressure without breaking, easily float on water and even disperse into a liquid when something tries to pass through it. Unfortunately, this discovery is completely useless -- because this amazing super-material is made up entirely of fire ants.
Why the ants in this video kept crawling around an iPhone
Okay, what we're seeing here (probably) isn't a bizarre ant ritual passed down from generation to generation, hailing the iPhone as their new queen and overlord. The video's description on YouTube claims the insects acted that way, because they were affected by the "electromagnetic wave of an incoming call." University of New England associate professor Nigel Andrew agrees: "[They] have magnetic receptors in their antennae. If they're travelling long distances they use magnetic cues from the earth to know if they are going north, east, south or west."
iMac turned ant farm for sale on eBay
We've seen lots of interesting ways to use old Macs, including the great Macquarium that pops up every now and again. But I think an ant farm is a new one -- that's what this 17" G5 iMac has been turned into. An eBay seller in Hawaii says he emptied out the Mac's insides and built a custom habitat to slide in and out of the unit, and then he filled it up with a special gel designed to grow and support a colony of ants. The only issue? He can't get the ants he'd need for the farm in Hawaii, so he's selling the whole kit and caboodle, ants not included. The habitat is also watertight (though it's a little small), but if you wanted to use this as a Macquarium, that would work, too. Perhaps for Sea Monkeys? I think an ant habitat would be a little more original, however. Just hope that they don't get free. As of this writing, the price is set at only $1 with no reserve, so anyone who wants to try using an old repurposed iMac can jump at the chance.
Engadget: Houston overrun by electronics-killing ants
It sounds like the plot of a Roger Corman film, I know, but as reported on our sister blog, apparently swaths of Texas are being overrun by "Crazy Rasberry Ants," named for their discoverer (and exterminator) Tom Rasberry, not for the tasty fruit. The ants, for some reason, are attracted to electrical equipment, including your Mac. A friendly chat with an AppleCare representative revealed that AppleCare policies do not cover insect infestation. Instead, the rep helpfully suggested that your renter's or homeowner's policy might cover the computer instead. The ants arrived in the U.S. via a shipping container. They reproduce quickly, and are very difficult to kill. Might be worth it to keep an eye out. Apparently, they've been spotted near Johnson Space Center, and who knows what secrets they could be after.
Houston being overrun by electronics-killing ants
We'll let you read the hed again -- nope, it's not a joke. Apparently millions of tiny swarming ants called "crazy raspberry ants" are causing quite a ruckus down in Houston after they accidentally arrived on board a cargo ship and started busily invading homes and offices, where they are attracted to electrical equipment. So far they've messed up sewage pumps, cause fire alarms to go haywire, destroyed computers, and taken out at least one gas meter -- and since they're resistant to over-the-counter ant killers and each colony has multiple queens, they're nearly impossible to kill. Worse, those that do die are used by the remaining ants as bridges over pesticide-treated areas. Yep, that's insanely creepy. Anyone in Houston got any horror stories to share?[Thanks, David]
Mythos gets a giant update
Mythos, the free-to-play MMO from developer Flagship Studios, has just announced a new update to the software, and the list of features, improvements, and bug fixes is extraordinarily long and satisfying. I'll embed the list after the jump, but here are a few of the things that stood out to me: Hardcore Mode: If you play in this mode, your character can die, and that's forever! Maybe someone was reading my post and decided it sounded like a good idea! Guilds are now available to create for the cost of 5 gold Hardware mouse cursors: No lag for me anymore, yay and my favorite for a laugh: 'Ants are now more interesting as monsters' Best part of all, Mythos promises no patch download is necessary; simply logging in will provide you with the update. Nice work, Flagship, and keep it up!Full list after the jump!
