This fossil is 13 million years older than any ant fossil found before—and reveals a sophisticated predator that lived alongside the dinosaurs. The hell ant existed over 100 million years ago, ...

Some ants thrive by choosing numbers over strength. Instead of heavily protecting each worker, they invest fewer resources in individual armor and produce far more ants. Larger colonies then ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Here’s a fun (and creepy) fact: The Earth is home to ...

The trade-off between quality and quantity is a fundamental economic dilemma. Now, a team of British, American, and Japanese researchers describes how it applies to biology, as well. They have ...

How did ants take over the world? The answer may be skin deep. By Cara Giaimo Cara Giaimo recently reported on ants that had found a loophole in a fundamental rule of life. If life is a numbers game, ...

An ant’s life cycle starts as a tiny egg. It hatches into a larva which is like a small worm without eyes or legs. It grows quickly and depends on adult worker ants to feed it. These workers decide ...

Ants, by contrast, have been using antibiotics for tens of millions of years, and they might hold the key to using these powerful drugs more wisely." Ants as a source of antibiotics The team looked at ...

Research shows that some ant species have learned how to treat their wounds, revealing one of the clearest examples of medical behavior outside humans. Medicine has been considered a uniquely human ...

Anyone who dismisses ants as just another pesky insect is missing some of nature's most jaw-dropping displays, including acts of disguise, architectural genius and female domination. And that's just ...

Queen ant pupae did not because, the researchers theorize, they have stronger immune systems and could better survive infection. This research dovetails with another finding from earlier this year in ...

Ant pupae that are fatally sick don’t hide their condition; instead, they release a special scent that warns the rest of the colony. This signal prompts worker ants to open the pupae’s cocoons and ...

Sick young ants release a smell to tell worker ants to destroy them to protect the colony from infection, scientists said Tuesday, adding that queens do not seem to commit this act of self-sacrifice.