Post AinkYEEIAACuB30HWi by noplasticshower@zirk.us
(DIR) More posts by noplasticshower@zirk.us
(DIR) Post #AinWn4ewczeJTuefGS by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-06-10T22:03:23Z
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So much of the lives of ants and what they do is a mystery because they live underground in structures, that though resilient for their purposes are rather fragile from a human perspective. The making of plaster and aluminum casts of ant nests has exposed the complex architecture of their nests. Many cast-makers go for abandoned nests some of the youTube channels attract ant-haters who just want the poor things to burn. Is there a less destructive way to see the structure of the nest?
(DIR) Post #AinX3ZL8KIePGiFmue by samiamsam@mastodon.social
2024-06-10T22:06:17Z
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@futurebird Have you read Edward O Wilson's "Naturalist" ? It is wonderful and a memoir. He has other books on ants.
(DIR) Post #AinX6eCugaZ3EWsQ7M by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-06-10T22:06:56Z
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I mean, even I don't feel that bad about fire ants getting cast... but they also have some of the least interesting nests IMO (less like a nest and more like a MESS) I don't fault the victims of fire ants for being a little angry.But it's the fault of HUMANS they are in the wrong place. Nobody pours hot aluminum into the house of plant importers or gravel importers!Could we instead discover the nest by putting some kind of tracker on the ants and sticking antennae rods in the soil maybe?
(DIR) Post #AinXFiiDJ3X3oLqLvk by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-06-10T22:08:32Z
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@samiamsam I've read four or five of his books, but don't remember that title somehow. Is it about nest architectecture in particular?
(DIR) Post #AinYBn6T8bzWE4sYXg by SRLevine@urbanists.social
2024-06-10T22:18:59Z
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@futurebird http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7563372.stmI'm sure there is more recent stuff out there, but I figured there has to be *something* with radar and lo and behold!
(DIR) Post #AinZ2TxD46mMBQfnBQ by moira@mastodon.murkworks.net
2024-06-10T22:28:28Z
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@futurebird Ultrasound maybe. RF antennas would be literally grounding the signals so it's kind of a hard problem. I looked this up for a novel once and where you end up with any range in RF at all is like literally 20hz and below.
(DIR) Post #Ainc8xUoRR2PPFAcm8 by samiamsam@mastodon.social
2024-06-10T23:03:22Z
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@futurebird Naturalist is a memoir and goes into how he became interested in ants
(DIR) Post #AinjreqdJwEcHSdclU by llewelly@sauropods.win
2024-06-11T00:29:54Z
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@futurebird on the other hand, molten aluminum is a lot better than molten lead, which people poured into ant nests quite often not so long ago.
(DIR) Post #AinkYEEIAACuB30HWi by noplasticshower@zirk.us
2024-06-11T00:37:30Z
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@futurebird would be fun to make one of those for a suburban house!
(DIR) Post #Ainl1gXZywc2Ne4T6O by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-06-11T00:42:55Z
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@noplasticshower Rachel Whiteread did just that, she's a neat artist, though this sculpture made some people angry... even though it's a comment on the absence of housing ... and spaces you can no longer enter. I would feel differently if the cast of an ant nest were a modern artwork made by an ant called "places I can no longer crawl."
(DIR) Post #AinlkpTRcBQD7MfBku by noplasticshower@zirk.us
2024-06-11T00:51:02Z
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@futurebird nice.
(DIR) Post #AinpAdz3G1VcsCRrCS by darabos@mastodon.online
2024-06-11T01:29:18Z
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@futurebird https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muon_tomography is used as a giant X-ray for pyramids. I think you would need to put the detectors under the nest and probably wait a long while.
(DIR) Post #Aio19UwMascdzCPXpA by justafrog@mstdn.social
2024-06-11T03:43:34Z
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@futurebird What we need is ant-sized robots which can explore the nest.Maybe also teach them to do basic ant tasks, how to reproduce, and how to take commands from ants.Then, we give them to the ants, and the world will be much better for ants.