Search Results for: Ants

Life

An award-winning photo captures a ‘zombie’ fungus erupting from a fly

The winner of the 2022 BMC Ecology and Evolution photo competition captures a macabre cycle of life and death in the Peruvian Amazon.

Plants

This pitcher plant species sets its deathtraps underground

Scientists didn’t expect the carnivorous, eggplant-shaped pitchers to be sturdy enough to survive below the surface.

Science & Society

Here are 7 new science museums and exhibitions to visit in 2023

The Grand Egyptian Museum is slated to open, as well as new exhibitions dedicated to space travel, the Galápagos Islands and more.

Animals

How metal-infused jaws give some ants an exceptionally sharp bite

Some small animals make cuts, tears and punctures that they couldn’t otherwise do using body parts reinforced with metals such as zinc and manganese.

Animals

Do gophers farm roots? It’s not as clear as viral articles claim

Pocket gophers aerate and fertilize the soil in a practice that encourages rudimentary food production, researchers claim. But not everyone agrees.

Life

European fire ant chemicals may send spiders scurrying away

Black widows and some other common spider species avoid spaces where fire ants once roamed, suggesting the insects could inspire a spider repellent.

Plants

These ferns may be the first plants known to share work like ants

Staghorn ferns grow in massive colonies where individual plants contribute different jobs. This may make them “eusocial,” like ants or termites.

Neuroscience

How a scientist-artist transformed our view of the brain

The book ‘The Brain in Search of Itself’ chronicles the life of Santiago Ramón y Cajal, who discovered that the brain is made up of discrete cells.

Animals

Gut bacteria let vulture bees eat rotting flesh without getting sick

Acid-producing bacteria in the gut of vulture bees let these “weirdos of the bee world” safely snack on animal carcasses.

Plants

Modified genes can distort wild cotton’s interactions with insects

In a Yucatan nature park, engineered genes influence nectar production, affecting ants’ and maybe pollinators’ attraction to the wild cotton plants.

Animals

Mineral body armor helps some leaf-cutting ants win fights with bigger kin

Researchers have found that at least one species of leaf-cutting ant has a tough layer of calcite on its exoskeleton.

Animals

Fire ants build little syphons out of sand to feed without drowning

To escape a watery death, some fire ants use build sand structures that draw the insects’ sugary, liquid food out of containers and to a safer place.