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Atheist:
I knew ants had something under their mounds, but I didn’t imagine it was anything like this! Scientists pour 10 tons of cement down a giant ant colony and then excavate it. The results are amazing:
If you don’t have time for the whole thing, skip to 3 minutes, where the cement action begins.
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[...] lecture about Superorganisms. It all came about because I found a very interesting video in another blog. I’m not going to repost it here, but if you want to see it go to [...]
[...] Amazing giant ant colony: “ [...]
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That is the coolest thing I’ve seen in a good long while. Thank you for sharing it!
Wow.
Ants are very interesting. It’s astounding how they can adapt to their environment and the way they structure their colonies.
Astonishing indeed. The ants looked pretty pissed off when they found air tubes being poked into all the vents; I wonder how they felt when they discovered all that concrete being poured in?
But amazing none the less. Thanks.
Funny you should mention ants. This week a GREAT book was published called “The Superorganism” which focuses on how ants evolved in social groups, and not as individuals. It has some far-reaching implications, and might be quite a controversial book. Check it out if you find it. :)
Interesting clip. The science channel rules…
Tangent: back when I was in highschool (’86 or so), my friend started seriously pursuing the idea of aliens visiting this planet. He’d bought a bunch of books and videos, and one was from a guy who claimed that ants were an alien species (something like “Invaders from the Pleiades”).
The book spent a lot of time analyzing ant intelligence, and how it was unlike any species hundreds of times larger.
Crap, mostly, but I saw this clip and sent it to the guy. We both had a good laugh, along with a “cool!”
Cheers
They mention Burt Holldobler (I think that’s him at the end with the acorn ants), co-author with E.O.Wilson of Journey to the Ants. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Everyone: go and read it. Now.
This is cool but I have one problem. Cement is the binding agent, they poured concrete.
As a civil engineer, this is a pet peeve for me!
I’m also a civil engineer.
They did not pour concrete lol
They poured cement mixed with water. Concrete is cement, water and aggregate (gravel).
If they poured concrete, the aggregate in it would have ripped those tunnels to pieces, and definitely wouldn’t have filled them in. The aggregate would have clogged it up.
@Tom: Well if enough people call it cement, it becomes cement, right? :) That’s the loose, changing nature of language.
(Even technically, it’s in my dictionary as “another term for concrete.”)
Great post! Thank you for sharing it. Another great book on the subject is Emergence, by Steven Johnson.
Your dictionary may be wrong, Monsieur Florien – lexicographers are not infallible, after all.
@Dan: I guess it all depends on your view of language. In my understanding, language changes as people use words differently. Dictionaries just record what the common uses are — and the common use is the definition.
For instance, try as lexicographers might, they can’t change the meaning of “blog” — they can only record what we all mean it to be. And if we start using it for something else, then that’s what it becomes.
People use “cement” as a synonym for “concrete.” So that’s what it is. It’s as simple as that.
If people started using “hardtop” for “concrete,” then even if an asphalt paver insisted it refereed to asphalt, it wouldn’t matter — people would still mean “concrete,” thus that’s what it would mean. It might be his pet peeve, but that doesn’t mean everyone should start using language a certain way because he wants it that way. They are free to continue using “hardtop” to refer to asphalt all they want.
All that to say, word meanings are not made of cement (sorry, had to) and have never been — unless it’s a dead language.
Concrete = water, cement, and aggregate
Cement is powder that’s made out of crushed Limestone, ferric (Iron) oxide, Silicon oxide, and Aluminium oxide (LISA)
Concrete and cement are definitely not synonyms.
The interesting thing about these giant ant cities is that software which creates random patterns based on basic rules to simulate if something occurring in nature is random or not, comes up with similar designs.
The reason why ants can build what they build is because that’s the best way they can survive and thrive in their environment. I guess this goes to show that randomness can be spectacular in its own right.
@Dan (the other one)
I beg your pardon? The Holy St. Thesaurus received from God the Divine Text, sometimes known as the OED. It has remained, immutable, unchangeable, invariant, never shrinking, only growing, until the present day. Anyone who thinks otherwise is misinterpreting the sacred Book.
(Webster’s users are apostates and shall receive eternal damnation in a place where they play Sarah Palin’s answers to interview questions over a loudspeaker.)
Very cool video. Note: you can start any YouTube video at any point by adding “#t=XmYs” to the end. For instance, you can start the minute at 3 minutes by going to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQERRbU23bU#t=3m
All those ants killed, a city-state destroyed, in the name of science.
I’m not only a tree huggin’ liberal, I must be an ant lover, too. Not that I didn’t perform my own experiments on the little creatures – I am now profoundly sorry for that – after reading the authoritative book, long out of print, “The Way of the Ant,” when I was a kid.
I’m not sure I’d enjoy super-beings covering my world with cement, er, concrete, or whatever, in the name of their science. I’m sure I didn’t like watching cement poured into an ant colony.
@Dave
I quote http://www.neatorama.com/2008/01/17/amazing-ant-colony/:
“They lured all the ants away to a new, better colony location using a mixture of watermelon, honey and chocolate syrup. They actually counted and weighed every ant from the original colony to assure themselves and PETA that all of the ants made the transition to the new colony safely. They lost less than one-half of one percent of the ants in the process – an amazing feat in of itself, I think.
Once they removed the concrete structure from the original colony, they recreated the original colony using wax and plaster. The ants were lured back and have successfully resumed their work.”
You didn’t think scientists were that heartless, did you? ;)
It’s great to hear that no ants were harmed in the making of this video!
When they poured concrete into the ground and started digging it up I thought these people must really be heartless!
Good news they did the right thing and relocated the ants!