Tag Archives: insects

Spider Thread

Spider hanging by its thread

Why a spider hanging from a thread does not rotate

The extraordinary properties of spider’s thread are like a blessing for researchers working on polymers. However, the amazing twisting properties it displays are still not very well understood. How can one explain the fact that a spider suspended by a thread remains completely motionless, instead of rotating like a climber does at the end of a rope?
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Spider’s thread, on the other hand, is very efficient at absorbing oscillations, regardless of air resistance, and retains its twisting properties during the experiments. It also returns to its exact original shape. Certain alloys, such as Nitinol, possess similar properties but must be heated to 90° to return to their original shape.

The amazing properties of spider’s thread have been known for several years: its ductility, strength and hardness surpass those of the most complex synthetics fibers

See more blog posts on life science, biology, etc. and more posts of interest to students and everyone interesting in learning about science.

Incredible Insects

Incredible Insects facts from the Smithsonian, including:

  • Fastest Flying Insect: Dragonflies are known to travel at the speed of 35 miles an hour.
  • The Longest-lived Insect: The queen of termites, known to live for 50 years. Some scientists believe that they live for 100 years.
  • The Loudest Insect: One species of cicadas can be heard for a quarter of a mile.

More Incredible Insect Facts and Information

Bye Bye Bees

Photo of a bee

The Vanishing by Sharon Levy:

One-third of the food we eat comes from crops that need animal pollinators, a role often filled by bees but sometimes by butterflies, beetles, birds, or bats. Bee-pollinated foods include squash, tomatoes, peppers, apples, and pears. Unfortunately, the honeybees surrounding me are members of a threatened tribe, whose loss would have a dire effect on farmers, not to mention everyone who eats fruits and vegetables.

This problem has been increasing in recent years.

Fees for renting beehives shot up from about $48 to as much as $140 per colony, a previously unheard-of amount. Beekeepers traveled from as far away as Florida and North Carolina to service California’s almond groves. For the first time in 50 years, U.S. borders were opened to honeybees from New Zealand and Australia. The fate of a $1.2 billion crop — more than half of all almond production worldwide — rested on the slender back of the embattled honeybee.

Natural systems seem so powerful that it hardly seems possible that running low on bees is really a concern. But more and more such stories (fish stocks being wiped out…) are being told. This is one of many reasons we need more scientists to study these areas and keep society informed. Enjoy reading this article it is a great example of science, scientific study, communicating scientific knowledge and the impact on society.

Photo by Justin Hunter

Ants on Stilts for Science

Ant on stilts

When Ants Go Marching, They Count Their Steps by Bjorn Carey

One is that they do it like honeybees and remember visual cues, but experiments revealed ants can navigate in the dark and even blindfolded. Another disproved hypothesis was that because ants scurry at a steady pace, they could time how long it took them to get to and fro. Other studies have shown that once ants find a good source of food, they teach other ants how to find it.

The ant “pedometer” technique was first proposed in 1904, but it remained untested until now.

Scientists trained desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis, to walk along a straight path from their nest entrance to a feeder 30 feet away. If the nest or feeder was moved, the ants would break from their straight path after reaching the anticipated spot and search for their goal.

A simple example of the scientific process (another one posted yesterday about birds and global warming).
Continue reading →

Two Butterfly Species Evolved Into Third

Butterfly photo

Two Butterfly Species Evolved Into Third, Study Finds by James Owen, National Geographic News:

Researchers say their creation reveals a process called hybrid speciation, in which the genes of two existing species combine to produce a third.

The study suggests hybridization may be more important to the evolution of new animals than had previously been thought.

Hybrids such as the mule, a cross between a donkey and a horse, are sterile. But the team says the butterfly hybrid brought together a combination of genes that allowed it to breed and there be considered a new species.

Swimming Ants

Scientists discover swimming ants

North Queensland scientists have discovered a new type of ant, believed to be the only species that can live, swim and navigate under water.
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The ants nest in submerged mangroves and survive by hiding in air pockets and then swimming to the surface.
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“I was actually working with a film crew working on insects in the mangroves and they wanted to film one of these ants and I said, ‘Well, lets put it on a rock in a puddle of water and that’ll stop it going away and then you’ll be able to film it,’ and the ant promptly just leapt off the edge of the rock and swam across the water and disappeared.

“We were sort of dumbfounded.”

Dr Robson says it is amazing that the ants can survive in such a hostile environment.

“We’ve been doing a lot of studies on their foraging behaviour and there’s a lot of things that eat them, so when they’re swimming, fish will sometimes eat them, mud skippers will eat them, crabs will attack them,” he said.

It is great to see experts can still be so suprised by nature.

Unique northern ants gain global attention