Collaborate Disseminate
The next time an inquisitive four-year-old asks how many ants there are on Earth, you can be ready to fire back a specific number. Researchers in Germany have scoured the scientific literature to come up with an answer to that question, as well as the … Continue reading Scientists tally up the total number of ants on Earth
A fascinating new study has discovered an insulin-suppressing protein that can help extend the lifespan of some ants. The research revealed that in a certain species of ant this anti-aging pathway is activated when workers transition to the position of… Continue reading Anti-insulin protein helps queen ants live five times longer than workers
A fascinating new proof-of-concept study from a team of researchers in France suggests trained ants could be effective at detecting cancer in humans. The researchers demonstrated a certain species of ant can be quickly trained to detect cancerous cells… Continue reading Cancer-sniffing ants prove as accurate as dogs in detecting disease
Why do ants and other small creatures have such sharp bites? According to scientists from the University of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), the answer lies in their ability to uniformly add zinc atoms to their teeth.Continu… Continue reading Zinc-atom coating turns ant teeth into tough, sharp tools
Eternal youth is the first thing many of us might wish for if we stumbled onto a genie or a magic monkey’s paw, but there’s always a catch. Now, scientists have discovered a version of this story playing out in ant nests, as parasites drastically exten… Continue reading Parasite grants ants “eternal youth” – but there’s a dark side
Fossilized tree resin, or amber, from the Cretaceous period has provided all kinds of fascinating insights into long-gone creatures that once inhabited the Earth. These include ticks with an appetite for dinosaur blood, dinosaurs with feathered tails a… Continue reading Ancient fossil shows how killer “hell ant” clamped down on its prey
ANT+ is a wireless protocol specifically designed for use with sensors, and has similar functionality in some respects to Bluetooth Low Energy. It’s found a place among various bicycle equipment manufacturers, to connect smartwatches, cycle computers and electronic gear shifters. Of course, as soon as something becomes a defacto standard …read more
Continue reading Reverse Engineering Shimano Bike Electronics
Walking robots come in many forms, and each presents their own unique challenges. Bipedal style locomotion is considered particularly difficult to do well, however designs with more legs offer certain advantages. Hexapods offer the possibility of keeping several legs on the ground while others move, providing a useful degree of stability. [How To Mechatronics] developed this ant robot, which is an excellent example of the form.
The hexapod has as the name suggests, six legs, each of which consist of 3 joints. This necessitates 3 servos per leg, for 18 servos total just for locomotion. Further servos are then used …read more
Continue reading Welcome Our New Insect Overlords With Arduino-Powered Ant Bot
[FESTO] keeps coming up with new tricks that make us both envious and inspired. Take their bionicANTs for example. Watching a group of them cooperate to move objects around looks so real that you’re instantly reminded of the pests crawling across your floor, but looking at them up close they’re a treasure trove of ideas for your next robot project.
The exoskeleton is 3D printed but they then use the outer surface of that exoskeleton as a circuit board for much of the circuitry. The wiring is “painted on” using a 3D MID (Molded Interconnect Device) process. While FESTO didn’t …read more
