direction

What Freezing Ants Can Tell Us About How Their Memory Works

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We humans are versatile and accomplished navigators, but insects might have navigation skills that are even better. For them, it’s literally a matter of life and death – and that’s why we decided to freeze some ants and beetles (don’t worry, they still survived) to learn more about how they remember their way home after … Read more

Ancient ‘Megafloods’ Tilted The Very Direction of Earth’s Crust, Scientists Find

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Earth’s last major ice age locked up gargantuan amounts of water in vast glaciers. Once they melted, it was a spectacle to behold as tremendous floods gouged channels into the face of the planet.   The remnants of one of the largest of these ancient deluges are still visible in eastern Washington, in an area … Read more

Mutant Bacteria Accidentally Recreated One of Van Gogh’s Most Iconic Paintings

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The line between art and science is sometimes a swirly one. Researchers studying a social bacterium that moves and feeds in coordinated swarms have unintentionally recreated something that looks a lot like a familiar masterpiece.   When a certain gene is overexpressed in a bacterium known as Myxococcus xanthus, the individual organisms self-organize into tiny circular … Read more