The Evolution of Ants

If you are on the planet Earth right now, there's probably a pretty good chance you're near an ant right now. So spare a thought for those hard working little fellows and unplug your headphones so they can hear this episode about ants (featuring special guest Maddie Sofia) and learn more about themselves! 

Want more Maddie Sofia in your life? Check them out on Twitter @maddie_sofia, watch the episode of PBS's Deep Look that inspired their poem, or go to Maddie's website to find countless more projects!

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A big thank you to Patreon subscribers Garth Riley, Mike A, and Tom Mosner for helping to make the show possible!

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While you're at it, check out the Tangents crew on Twitter: Ceri: @ceriley Sam: @im_sam_schultz Hank: @hankgreen

[Trivia Question]

First commercial formicarium 

https://archive.dartmouthalumnimagazine.com/article/1988/12/1/the-man-who-invented-the-ant-farm-not-to-mention-the-ant-coal-mine

https://www.dartmouth.edu/library/Library_Bulletin/Apr1993/LB-A93-Cramer.html?mswitch-redir=classic

https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

[Fact Off]

Ants stealing food from a pitcher plant 

Ants swimming in pitcher plants: kinematics of aquatic and terrestrial locomotion in Camponotus schmitzi

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-tropical-ecology/article/abs/swimming-ants-and-pitcher-plants-a-unique-antplant-interaction-from-borneo/603B9F3C479FF3D2CF369E23B4EF67E0

https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-2435.2011.01937.x

Marauder ants and major worker piggyback rides

https://content.ucpress.edu/chapters/10359.ch01.pdf

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4155725/

https://sib.illinois.edu/suarez/local/suarez/uploads/2020/01/Wills_etal_2018_ARE.pdf

https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-319-90306-4_75-1

https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-ento-020117-043357

 

[Ask the Science Couch]

Ant size/strength 

https://engineering.osu.edu/news/2014/02/study-ants-remarkable-strength-may-lead-powerful-micro-sized-robots

https://www.wired.com/video/watch/why-humans-cant-lift-as-much-as-ants

https://askdruniverse.wsu.edu/2017/07/20/how_ants_are_strong/

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2113824-coconut-crabs-bone-crushing-grip-is-10-times-stronger-than-ours/

https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/allometry-the-study-of-biological-scaling-13228439/

[Butt One More Thing]

Parasitic beetle disguised as ant butt 

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/02/the-beetle-that-pretends-to-be-an-army-ants-butt/516522/

https://bmczool.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40850-016-0010-x