11 results found.
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 74: Mar-Apr 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects 'TERMITE BANDS' IN SOUTH AFRICA Few animals besides man have significantly affected our planet's geology. To be sure, corals built the Great Barrier Reef and beavers left their mark on the hydrology of parts of Canada and the U.S .; but termites!? It seems that in southern Africa this industrious insect is responsible for enormous striped patterns of ridges and vegetation bands. These amazingly regular patterns are caused by alternating low ridges and gullies. The ridges are about 2 meters high, up to a kilometer long, and separated by about 50 meters. The ridges themselves are closely spaced termite mounds. Just why the termites choose to build their mounds in long rows is an unanswered question. And how do the termites maintain strict parallelism, especially since they are blind? How could termites in one mound know how their neighbors in the nearest ridge, 50 meters away, are building their mounds? Anyway, the ridges help channel the flow of water and thus the growth of vegetation, giving immense swathes of country a corrugated appearance. (Sattaur, Omar; "Termites Change the Face of Africa," New Scientist, p. 27, January 26, 1991.) Comment. In Australia, the so-called "magnetic" termites build their slab-like mounds so as to minimize the amount of sun-generated heat. From Science Frontiers #74, MAR-APR 1991 . 1991-2000 ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 149 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf074/sf074g10.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 20: Mar-Apr 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A TALE OF TWO ECOSYSTEMS -- OR MAYBE MANY MORE Comment. It was quite fortuitous that the following two pieces, found on the same day, fit together so nicely. (Nature is fortuitous!) A group of scientists studying termites have isolated over 100 species of protozoa and bacteria living cooperatively inside the termites gut. Some of the bacteria even live inside the protozoa and other bacteria forming ecosystems of several symbiotic levels within each termite. Each termite itself is part of a complex social "superorganism," the termite colony. That termites had bugs in-side them has long been known; but the new-found complexity and interdependency of life systems within life systems is remarkable. The researchers believe that the life forms inside the termite work together to create the uniform internal environment needed by all inhabitants, just as the termites themselves cooperate to maintain a favorable environment inside their hill. (Anonymous; "And Littler Bugs Inside 'Em," Scientific American, 246:78, February 1982.) The termites, though, are only part of a much larger ecosystem, the earth itself. J.E . Lovelock, in his Gaia, A New Look at Life On Earth, has observed that our planet's environment has actually changed little down the eons despite solar variations. Lovelock's hypo thesis is that all terrestrial life -- animals, plants, termites, etc -- work sym biotically ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 126 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf020/sf020p06.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 14: Winter 1981 Supplement Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Beetles Make Scents Termite nests frequently host foreign species that seem to be accepted as fellow termites. Can't termites recognize the invaders? The authors believe that termites probably recognize one another by specific hydrocarbon labels synthesized on their cuticles. If the alien species were to be somehow marked with similar chemical identifiers, the blind termites might not know the difference. Howard et al think this may be the case with a species of beetle often found integrated into termite society. By chemi-cally analyzing beetle and termite cuticles, they have found both wearing the same hydrocarbon labels. Furthermore, the beetles synthesize their own chemical masks. This is an astounding instance of parallel or convergent evolution between remotely related species. (Howard, R.W . et al, "Chemical Mimicry as an Integrating Mechanism....," Science, 210:431, 1980.) Comment. Synthesizing exactly the right hydrocarbons was certainly a great stroke of good fortune for the beetles! From Science Frontiers #14, Winter 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 133: JAN-FEB 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Superorganisms: From Simplicity To Complexity Superorganisms are biological entities made up of large numbers of simpler entities that have banded together to perform functions they cannot do as individuals. Termite mounds are often mentioned as superoganisms. But here we examine colonies of organisms that are much simpler and much smaller than termites. What entices the anomalist to attend to superorganisms? Here are two of the several questions superorganisms raise. How do superorganisms evolve properties that its constituent individuals do not possess, such as mobility, unique sensors, and even a modicum of intelligence. Since superorganisms do not reproduce as superorganisms, how can natural selection operate on these superorganisms? Salps. Books dealing with the unexplained sometimes include a photograph of a huge marine creature identified as a sea monster. This famous photo is real and so is the monster in it. But this creature is not reptilian; it is really a salp, a colonial tunicate. Tunicates are tiny, primitive marine organisms usually classified as invertebrates. Some species of tunicates have somehow acquired the habit of aggregating in immense numbers to create long, hollow, snake-like tubes called "salpa." Salps may reach lengths of 45 feet, with diameters of 3 feet. No wonder they are falsely identified as sea monsters. Structurally, the tunicates comprising the salp are embedded in a gelatinous wall facing inward. Each possesses a siphon that pumps nutrient-carrying sea water. Working in unison, the tunicates create ...
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... This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects High Social Order In A New Order When divers explore the coral reefs off the coast of Belize, they hear a an underwater sound like frying bacon. This sound emanates from the snapping claws of Synalpheus regalis , popularly called snapping shrimp. These diminutive crustaceans live in colonies in the channels of sponges. The individual shrimp in these sponge-sheltered colonies are not all alike. The noise-makers are the "soldier" caste, which wield big "fighting claws." The "workers" that care for the young lack the large claws. All of the young shrimp are produced by a single "queen" shrimp, who is substantially larger than the soldiers and workers. The snapping shrimp social order sounds a lot like that found in bee hives and termite mounds. The snapping shrimp are, in fact, "eusocial" like the social insects. They are the only known eusocial members of the Order Crustacea . Eusociality is considered to be at the apex of animal social organization. What forces have fostered its development in three diverse groups -- insects, mammals (the naked mole-rats), and now the crustaceans? How did the different castes evolve, especially the sterile castes? It must have taken a lot of random mutations to develop such greatly different body forms in a coordinated way such that colonies were continuously viable! Obviously, we have a lot to learn about these snapping shrimp. Are new colonies formed when sexual forms disperse, as with ants and termites; or are there "dispersive morphs" created, as with ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 74: Mar-Apr 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Echidna Eccentricities Monotremes: platypus (below); one of two species of echidnas (above) The echidna is one of the monotremes-- an egg-laying mammal. Like its relative, the platypus, it is a strange mixture of mammalian, marsupial, and reptilian characteristics. For example, echidna eggs are soft and leathery, like those of reptiles, but they are brooded in a marsupial-like pouch. The emerging baby echidna has an egg tooth like the birds and reptiles, while the adult has no teeth at all. Rather, it has a narrow snout through which it ingests ants and termites caught on its sticky tongue. In this it resembles the mammalian ant-eaters, which are also toothless but an ocean away from Australia. In fact, the echidna is often called a "spiny anteater" for it has the sharp spines of a hedgehog or porcupine. There are more anatomical peculiarities, but let us focus on the echidna's strange behavior during the mating season. At this time, 2 to 8 echidnas can be seen roaming the Australian bush in "trains" headed by a female with the smallest male acting as a caboose. When mating time arrives, the female anchors herself to a tree with her forelegs. To-gether the males dig a circular "mating rut" up to 10 inches deep around the tree. (Australians have puzzled over these circular trenches for years. ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 81: May-Jun 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Eusocial Beetles The best-known eusocial animals are the ants, termites, and naked mole rats. As As biological observations accumulate, the phenomenon is being found elsewhere in the animal kingdom. The following quotation extends eusociality to the beetles and (in case you wondered) defines "eusociality": "The weevil Austroplatypus incompertus lives in galleries in the heartwood of Eucalyptus trees. Colonies are initiated by solitary fertilized females and, when mature, manifest the three phenomena which characterize eusociality: overlapping generations, cooperative brood care and division into reproductive and sterile (unfertilized) castes. Each colony contains one fertilized and five or so unfertilized adult females, the job of the second group being to deal with predators and to extend and maintain the galleries." (Anonymous; "Sociable Beetles," Nature, 356:111, 1992.) Comment. Eusociality is somewhat of a puzzle in evolutionary theory because one must ask how the phenomenon arises, when it requires some individuals to forswear reproduction and thus give up the chance to pass their genes directly on to progeny. Explanations of such extreme altruism generally state that the nonbreeders are really helping to pass some (or even all) of their genes on by supporting the colony, for they are usually closely related to the breeding female. From Science Frontiers #81, MAY-JUN 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 87: May-Jun 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Animals Attack Human Technological Infrastructure We are accustomed to termites feasting on our homes' timbers and mice gnawing in the walls, but in recent years many species have developed a taste for more sophisticated fare: Pine martens are chewing through the electical wiring of Swiss cars. Mammal repellents popular there. British dormice seem to enjoy the electrical fittings of Rolls Royces. The keas (mountain parrots) of New Zealand have an innate urge to strip out the rubber gaskets around car windows. Land crabs on Tahiti bite through the electrical cables of film crews. Rarely are they electrocuted. New Zealanders have to put metal collars on telephone poles to prevent bushy tailed possums from getting at the cables. Squirrels, rabbits, langurs, and others species are also on the attack in all countries. (Ager, Derek; "Unwary Animals and Vicious Volts," New Scientist, p. 47, January 9, 1993.) Comment. We mustn't forget that sperm whale that got tangled up in an undersea cable over a mile down! From Science Frontiers #87, MAY-JUN 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 106: Jul-Aug 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects It's a mole-rat, jim, but not as we know it Naked mole rats are the most social of all the mammals. They live in underground colonies with a social structure like that of ants and termites. There are castes of workers, and only the queen, an oversized female, breeds. Naked mole rats are also intensely xenophobic; they avoid or fight with other mole-rat colonies. But such tightly closed societies lead to inbreeding with all its deleterious effects. For naked mole rats to survive over the long term, a biological solution to the inbreeding problem had to be found. The response of the species to this threat is the occasional production of a "dispersive morph." The largest and most successful colonies produce -- somehow -- a larger-than-normal individual, almost always a male, that is fuelled with extra fat and possesses a yen to travel. He is disinclined to mate with the resident queen, preferring to leave the colony for amorous adventure elsewhere. Thus, intercolony gene flow is established. (Gee, Henry; "It's a Mole-Rat, Jim, But Not As We Know It," Nature, 380:584, 1996. O'Riain, M. Justin, et al; "A Dispersive Morph in the Naked Mole-Rat," Nature, 380:619, 1996) Comment. Of course, the ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 13: Winter 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects New Definition For Humans Needed One scientist has defined humans as "tool makers" as distinguished from "tool users." This distinction is necessary because several animals employ tools for simple tasks, such as fishing termites out of holes. However, Kitahara-Frisch points out in this paper that experiments by Wright with a young orangutan proved that at least one animal can actually make tools; that is, use one tool to make another. More specifically, Wright taught the orangutan to strike sharp flint flakes from a core and then use them to cut a cord and gain access to its favorite food. (Kitahara-Frisch, J.; "Apes and the Making of Stone Tools," Current Anthropology, 21:359, 1980.) Comment. Apparently, with orangutans, at least, no manipulative or cognitive barriers exist to prevent them from entering their own Stone Age. Reference. The ability of non-human mammals to manufacture and use tools is cataloged at BMT11 in Biological Anomalies: Mammals I. To order, go to: here . From Science Frontiers #13, Winter 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 74: Mar-Apr 1991 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology A GOLDEN CALENDAR FOR USE AT STONEHENGE? DID THE PHARAOHS CHEAT WITH CONCRETE? Astronomy An unexplained event Gaia on mars? SOLAR ECLIPSE AFFECTS A PENDULUM -- AGAIN! Biology Eel oddities Echidna eccentricities Searching for monster sharks WHEN IDENTICAL TWINS ARE NOT IDENTICAL Geology 'TERMITE BANDS' IN SOUTH AFRICA THE MECHANICAL PARADOX IN THRUST FAULTING Geophysics NEWTONIAN GRAVITY MAY HAVE BROKEN DOWN IN GREENLAND 50-POUND 'ICE BOMB' FALLS IN WEST VIRGINIA EARTHQUAKE LIGHTS OBSERVED IN CANADA Psychology Predictive psi Maths & Logic Pi surprise Physics Repent! the phase change is coming! Cold fusion update ...
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