Ig Nobel Prize winner David Hu and colleagues explain the simple rules that fire ants use when they build a tower-of-fire-ants. They explain in a new study: “Fire Ants Perpetually Rebuild Sinking Towers,” Sulisay Phonekeo, Nathan Mlot, Daria Monaenkova, David L. Hu, Craig Tovey,” Royal Society Open Science, vol. 4, 2017, 170475. In the aftermath […]
Tag: tower
London’s top-secret BT Tower revealed (23 years ago today)
On this day, Friday 19th February 1993, Ms. Kate Hoey (member of parliament for Vauxhall, London) used ‘Parliamentary Privilege‘ (which provides immunity from prosecution under the Official Secrets Act) to reveal the existence of a previously secret high-tech installation in central London. “Hon. Members have given examples of seemingly trivial information that remains officially secret. […]
If you like to drop things, measuredly
If you like to drop things because you want to measure what happens to them, consider using the drop tower at the University of Bremen, Germany. Pertinent info abounds. Read Geoff Manaugh’s essay in Gizmodo (“This Tower Exists Solely for Dropping Things“). Read the tower authority’s attractive brochure, if you like — read that in German (“Experimente unter Schwerelosigkeit”) […]