There are quite a lot of animal species with strong social characteristics which are able to undertake difficult tasks without a leader to coordinate them. Most of these species can build complex animal architecture, surprising people with their exact precision and organized structure. From all these animals, fire ants have already reached a superior level of building skills.

Fire ants build structure to survive floods

These ants originate in Pantanal, West Brazil, an area which is periodically flooded. Fire ants needed to find a survival mechanism to cope with the flooding, so they developed several skills which bound them together as a community. First of all, they could keep themselves afloat until all water went away by sticking together and creating some sort of ant-raft.

The second and more complex mechanism consists of building towers. These help them reach higher places away from water, and are also the basis of their underground tunnels. Researchers took an interest in this tower-building technique, which made the subject of a new study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

What is the secret of the ant tower?

They thought that, after discovering the ants’ building secret, they would be able to use the same technology for man-made buildings. Nature-inspired design is always a great solution to erect structures to last throughout time.

To see how fire ants put up their towers, researchers injected them with radioactive substances, and then performed X-ray scans on them while they were building complex structures. They saw how these towers were constantly moving, namely they sank and, then, the ants formed them again.

Researchers also wondered what rules fire ants followed to build these towers, and discovered there aren’t any. They are probably moving atop each other and occupy the first free place they find, until the structure is formed. Also, they can predict how high a structure can be, and move accordingly.

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

Previous reports analyzed the effects of neonicotinoids on bees, but the results weren’t quite clear. Now, a recent study documents in detail the negative impact these types of pesticides have on the health of honeybees. This research was published in the journal Science.

Neonicotinoids are, indeed, harmful for bees

The older studies on neonicotinoids were frowned upon, since their results were regarded as unrealistic. Experts claimed the bees in these reports showed way more adverse effects since they had been exposed to a higher concentration of the pesticides than they would be in real life.

This is why researchers from York University in Toronto, Canada, decided to perform a large-scale analysis on bees and neonicotinoids. Therefore, they discovered these pesticides were, indeed, harmful for the bees’ health. Even smaller levels of exposure than those in the initial studies led to more chances of queenlessness and early death among the animals.

They become more toxic if mixed with fungicides

Between May and September, researchers studied five bee colonies living near neonicotinoid-treated corn fields, and six colonies living far away from any crop. They noticed how bees came into contact with the pesticides not from the corn nearby, but from other plants they collect pollen from. Therefore, neonicotinoids are very likely to be transferred to the surrounding environment.

Researchers also discovered these pesticides are far more dangerous to bees when combined with the common fungicide boscalid. In such a combination, neonicotinoids become twice as toxic to honeybees than they usually are.

Neonicotinoids are widely used on crops as pest control, since they are not so toxic on humans and mammals. However, they are more dangerous for small insects, such as bees. Some insecticide manufacturers doubt this harmful effect, but authorities in the US and Canada have already started imposing limitations on neonicotinoid use.
Image Source: Public Domain Pictures

On July 20^th, the day of the 48^th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, the bag Neil Armstrong used to collect lunar rocks will go on auction. The event will be organized by Sotheby’s and is expected to bring bids which will go up to $4 million.

The lunar bag will now be sold for a much higher price

In February 2015, a Chicago lawyer, Nancy Carlson, bought the bag during a Texas auction for $995. The bag wore a label which wrote “Lunar Sample Return”, but she was not aware of the historical value of the object.

Later, she found out that Neil Armstrong used this bag to put the rocks he collected from the surface of the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. Therefore, it will go up for auction again, and this time it is expected to be sold for a much higher price.

Sotheby’s, the agency which holds the event, is incredibly excited and highlights the importance of this artifact. They want to offer everybody the chance to be a part of this auction, so they will receive bids both in person and via phone, as well as online. Also, a part of the gains will be given to charity, to foundations like Bay Cliff Health Camp or Immune Deficiency Foundation.

Legal battle between Carlson and NASA

The situation wasn’t so nice for the previous owner of the bag. Carlson discovered rocks and dust inside, so she sent it to NASA. After the tests, they discovered that the samples were indeed coming from the moon, so they decided to confiscate the object as federal property. Carlson issued a federal lawsuit and demanded to have the bag returned and, in December 2016, the verdict came back in her favor.

Many lunar objects were given as gifts to dignitaries from America or from other countries, and this bag ended up in the possession of the Kansas Cosmosphere Museum official, Max Ary. Later, he was accused and convicted of illegally selling space artifacts, so the government sent many of his objects for auction. This is how Carlson came into the bag’s possession.
Image Source: Flickr

LEGO will release a special new set which will appeal to all kids passionate about science and astronomy. The set was inspired by NASA and it consists of an Apollo 11 Saturn V Rocket measuring one meter in height. In fact, most adults will probably be as excited about the toy as the children are going to be.

The creators of the set, Valérie Roche and Felix Stiessen, submitted their design via LEGO Ideas. They came up with the amazing idea of rendering a LEGO version of the rocket which brought the first people on the moon. The rocket is not only a collectible, as you can build it yourself and recreate each stage of the Apollo mission.

Apollo 11 Saturn V Rocket set, one of the most complex ever released by LEGO

Thus, the set contains 1,179 bricks, all three stages of the rocket which you can remove or adjust, a rescue rocket which is fitted on top of the spacecraft and, to render the picture complete, two astronaut figures in miniature.

After you finish playing with the rocket and want to display it in your home, you can either place it vertically on a shelf or use the special stands in the package and adjust it horizontally. Besides, the package also offers you a booklet containing information on the Apollo mission.

This will represent the biggest set ever produced by LEGO Ideas, as the rocket will be one meter tall and have a scale of approximately 1:110. It will come on the market on June 1^st, and it will be available in all stores at prices starting from $119.99.

LEGO Ideas allows fans to present their own designs

This is not the first LEGO set inspired by NASA. LEGO also launched a special collection designed by fans called Women of NASA. Its purpose is to celebrate those women who played a major role in the development of the space agency and their missions.

In fact, all sets developed by LEGO Ideas are designed by fans, as it represents a platform where people can present their ideas and have the chance to have it picked up by LEGO. This works as a great inspiration, since fans come up with the most interesting designs.

Thus, all fans can enter LEGO Ideas, submit their concept of LEGO set and, at the same time, vote for other designs. Those ideas which receive more than 10,000 vote go to the next stage, as they can reach the LEGO officials for review and get a chance to become real sets sold all over the world.
Image Source: Flickr

The mysterious Blood Falls from Taylor Valley in Antarctica have kept scientists wondering for more than a century. Now, a group of researchers claim to have discovered the origin of the peculiar stream which looks like a blood flow staining the Antarctic ice.

Griffith Taylor, an Australian geologist, is the first to discover the Blood Falls in 1911. Besides making this discovery, he also explored the glacier, and now the valley bears his name. As expected, the presence of a mysterious waterfall with such an aspect baffled everyone, and scientists kept coming up with hypothesis on the origin of the stream.

Several theories tried to explain the red stream of water

One theory suggested that red algae were the ones which stained the water of the Blood Falls. A second one proposed the presence of iron oxide in the water, which colored it in red. Now, a team of researchers from Colorado College and the University of Alaska Fairbanks decided to settle the debate and find out which is the true explanation for this phenomenon.

In a study published in the Journal of Glaciology, they established that iron oxide is, indeed, the one that gave this color to the water in the Blood Falls. On the northern side of the Taylor Valley, there flows a brine with a high concentration of iron oxide.

It also created a deposit of frozen brine, which gets outflowed from time to time, thus producing this blood-resembling stream. During summer, this deposit degrades to a certain extent, due to higher temperatures. This is when the ‘blood flow’ is less prominent. Also, the brine hosts a multitude of microbial life forms.

By using advanced technology, researchers revealed the mystery of the Blood Falls

Researchers explain that the iron oxides start precipitating when the brine comes into contact with oxygen. Also, they say that the constant flow comes from a stream of salt water which remained trapped under the ice layer for millions of years.

The team was able to find out an explanation for the unusual color of the Blood Falls by using an advanced radar method. They located the salt water source hidden under the ice layer by using a technique called radio-echo sounding. Their mechanism is equipped with two antennas, one responsible with emitting radio pulses, and the other receives signals.
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons