5 ms·
How tiny insects survive the rain
- pdx 14y agoI just listened to 'Micro', Michael Crichton's last book (completed by another author after his death) http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B00687OAI2&qid=1338927290&sr=1-1 http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B00687OAI2&qid... That book taught me a ton about the different physics that apply "in the micro world" that insects inhabit. The physics of falling and of water tension at that scale are so different than we are used to.
- patrickk 14y agoInteresting article about insects that are a millimeter or less (!) in size: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/11/30/how-fairy-wasps-cope-with-being-smaller-than-amoebas/ http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/11/3... Didn't know that there was another Crichton book out, thanks for the heads up. Big fan of his.
- excuse-me 14y agoFor small insects drinking from a water droplet can be a challenge when surface tension is stronger than you are! And of course the classic essay "On Being the Right Size" http://irl.cs.ucla.edu/papers/right-size.html http://irl.cs.ucla.edu/papers/right-size.html
- bitwize 14y agoOne of the brilliant things about The Secret World of Arrietty is how water works in that movie. At Borrower scales, water is more viscous than we perceive it, and their soup and tea become thick gels. At one point, Arrietty brushes droplets of herself and they remain coherent because of the high surface tension. And this is all shown brilliantly through animation.
- cma 14y agohttp://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2003/feb/13/the-future-needs-us/?pagination=false http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2003/feb/13/the-fut... Supposedly Crichton got it wrong at the even smaller scale
- freshnote 14y agoNot to derail too much, but insects are much misunderstood and wrongly vilified, which is why I wrote Take the Humane Stance with Ants: http://allsprawldown.com/animal-ethics/taking-an-ethical-stance-with-carpenter-ants/ http://allsprawldown.com/animal-ethics/taking-an-ethical-sta... Please share this with someone who is quick with the can of Raid.
- dfc 14y agoIf there is a 10% chance that carpenter ants are destroying the structural integrity of my house I am double fisting the raid cans...
- freshnote 14y agoKarma is a boomerang. You'll see.
- planetguy 14y agoAnd this, right here, is the problem with internet discussions. Fringe opinions derail otherwise interesting threads.
- dfc 14y agoSadly it is also the problem with vocal members of the animal rights movement. I am by no means a Jianist but I do try my hardest not to step on insects/bugs as I walk down the sidewalk. That being said if I have to choose between my house and the lives of carpenter ants I am choosing my house every time. Comments like the "karma comment" do little to advocate animal rights...
- pcopley 14y agoCan you please explain what you're talking about?
- dllthomas 14y agoIf there's a 10% chance that carpenter ants are destroying the structural integrity of your home, you should be looking for the cause of the water damage.
- mhartl 14y agoIn this vein, there's a wonderful article by Edward Purcell called "Life at Low Reynolds Number": http://brodylab.eng.uci.edu/~jpbrody/reynolds/lowpurcell.html http://brodylab.eng.uci.edu/~jpbrody/reynolds/lowpurcell.htm... (Purcell won a Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of nuclear magnetic resonance. He also discovered the 21 cm line of neutral hydrogen and authored an iconic textbook on electricity & magnetism.)
- ableal 14y agoThanks for the link. I like the introduction referring to the original talk: "Some essential hand waving could not be reproduced."