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@DiverDoc@mstdn.ca
2025-05-18 14:32:29

@… Modern ants are one of the most dominant animal groups on Earth, with over 17,000 ant species found throughout every continent except Antarctica. Scientists think ants diverged from the evolutionary lineage that wasps originated from, then took on a more ant-like form during the Cretaceous period with a smaller thorax and a specialized secreting gland unique to ants.
(from Paywalled Nat Geo Article)

@DiverDoc@mstdn.ca
2025-05-18 14:31:40

@…
The oldest ant fossil ever discovered had forward-facing scythe-like jaws it used to hunt, according to a new study in Current Biology. 
Now the oldest ant specimen known to science, the roughly half-inch-long 113-million-year-old impression preserved in limestone was found in northeastern Brazil, and is a new genus belonging to the “hell ant” subfamily Haidomyrmecinae. Hell ants only lived during the Cretaceous period, which ended 66 million years ago. 🧵

@gwire@mastodon.social
2025-06-14 14:24:58

I think the government is stretching the understood meaning of "upskilling" in making people use AI, given the underlying promise of the AI industry.
gov.uk/government/news/tech-gi

Tech giants join government to kick off plans to boost British worker AI skills
Leading tech firms have partnered with government to deliver AI skills training to 7.5 million UK workers.

@andres4ny@social.ridetrans.it
2025-06-06 23:27:27

Finally got to ride a double-decker bus! The people, they look like ants down there. #BusStuff

A red double-decker bus (number 390) with people boarding and getting off. British flags are over the street, and in the background some ornate buildings.
View from out of the bus window. The window is the same height as the middle of a tree, and over the roof of a covered bus stop. Looking down, there are people below on the sidewalk.
Another shot out of the window of the double-decker bus, but this time from the front. There is another red double-decker bus immediately in front (in traffic), and there are streetlights at the same level as the window.
The top of the (rear) stairs of the double-decker bus. They curve upward with yellow handrails. There are windows around the stairs as well, and outside of the bus you can see the road behind the bus, with cars and people crossing.
@arXiv_physicsbioph_bot@mastoxiv.page
2025-06-03 07:48:33

Maximal response to a mechanical leader at critical group size in ant collectives
Atanu Chatterjee, Tom Tzook, Nir Gov, Ofer Feinerman
arxiv.org/abs/2506.01209

Maximal response to a mechanical leader at critical group size in ant collectives
It is widely recognized that biological collectives operate near criticality to amplify their capability of collective response. The peak in susceptibility near criticality renders these groups highly responsive to external stimuli. While this phenomenon has been recognized and supported by evidence from theory, a direct experimental demonstration has been elusive. To bridge this gap, here we record the response of a group of Paratrechina longicornis ants to external stimuli as they join effort…