Do two colonies of ant from the same species use the same pheromone markers? | AskScience Blog

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Saturday, March 11, 2017

Do two colonies of ant from the same species use the same pheromone markers?

Do two colonies of ant from the same species use the same pheromone markers?


Do two colonies of ant from the same species use the same pheromone markers?

Posted: 11 Mar 2017 12:13 AM PST

I've been dealing with ants in my house, and using an ant gel poison. I poison a group of ants, and they all disappear, but about a week later more ants are arriving from a different location.

I'm wondering if the ants are "piggybacking" off the scent markers from the now-dead colony. They appear to have a different origin, but after encountering where the old ant trail was, they seem to follow it exactly. Occasionally another species of ant shows up, too, but they appear to not use the same trails.

submitted by /u/GMaestrolo
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What are the challenges that fusion power still needs to overcome to achieve ignition?

Posted: 11 Mar 2017 04:29 AM PST

What are the challenges that either magnetic confinement fusion or inertial confinement fusion still needs to overcome in order to achieve a self-sustaining reaction which is able to be used in a commercial fusion reactor?

submitted by /u/Electronitus
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What is the limit of the human ear's ability to distinguish that two sounds are coming from different distances?

Posted: 10 Mar 2017 07:18 PM PST

For example, if one speaker was located 10 km to your right and one speaker was 1 m to your left and you emitted a tone from them at the same time, you'd be able to tell that the one on the left was closer. Would you be able to do that if the distances were 10 m and 1 m? What's the smallest difference in distance you could detect?

submitted by /u/JCauce
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Are all subatomic particles the same size?

Posted: 09 Mar 2017 05:17 PM PST

I know certain particles are larger than others, like protons and neutrons are larger than electrons, but are some protons larger than others? Same goes for quarks and the like.

submitted by /u/skeetsauce42
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Why does the limit as x approaches infinity of (1+1/x)^x appear to approach e?

Posted: 10 Mar 2017 05:34 PM PST

The limit of 1/x as x->infinity is 0, and 1anything equals 1, so I would expect the answer to be 1. But, if I plug in 10,000 for x, the limit seems to be our old friend e (2.71828...)!

I understand that this is the definition of e in terms of infinitely compounded interest, but I'm not sure why that limit wouldn't be 1.

submitted by /u/nice_prax
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Can eMmy noether theorem be explained in simple terms to a nonmathematician?

Posted: 10 Mar 2017 05:36 PM PST

I read a bit about her but still do not understand her thorem. Something about symetry and conservation of energy?

submitted by /u/kirkkrunchkangaroo
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When was it first proposed that moonlight was actually sunlight reflecting?

Posted: 10 Mar 2017 01:21 PM PST

Would metal rust on Mars, or other planets in our solar system?

Posted: 10 Mar 2017 06:59 PM PST

I get that metals rust here on earth typically because liquid water allows Iron and Oxygen to bond, but I've had metal belongings rust even when they've never been directly exposed to liquid water.

I know there is some water (in ice form) on Mars, would that be enough to oxidize some steel? Would it happen, but much more slowly, or not at all? What about other planets in our solar system?

submitted by /u/atomiku121
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After a wildfire destroys plant life, is the soil in affected at risk of eroding? If so, how do engineers adapt surviving structures, like roads, to the soil's new state?

Posted: 10 Mar 2017 11:10 AM PST

This picture on the front page motivated me to ask this question. How will the road leading to the house be effected by the wildfire?

submitted by /u/Edward_Campos
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What are the implications if the Lorentz Symmetry is violated?

Posted: 10 Mar 2017 12:20 PM PST

Specifically, what practical applications could result if, say, neutrino oscillations were proven to break Lorentz Symmetry? What technologies could be developed in the next couple of centuries to take advantage of such a breakthrough?

submitted by /u/Haplo781
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Would photonic Bose-Einstein Condensate contain a significant energy?

Posted: 10 Mar 2017 12:34 PM PST

I was just interested in understanding some of the fundamentals of Quantum Physics, so I started reading through Wikipedia starting with Spin and going through Quarks/Leptons, Hadrons, Bosons, Fermions and ending up with Bose-Einstein Condensate. Now, I am not a physics person at all, but I started wondering what would happen if you tried to create "molecules" out of photons, and wouldn't you know it, someone did. Reading through Lene Hau and Martin Weisz work in slowing light and creating "super-photons," I was curious if in some crazy theoretical world if light could be confined and condensed into a solid matter, which would have energy. If you could have a brick of condensed photonic molecules that could be bled to produce energy, etc. that was created by harnessing solar radiation, etc.

If any of this sounds very dumb, it is because I just started reading about quantum mechanics four hours ago. Any thoughts or conjecture would be really intriguing and appreciated.

edit* a word

submitted by /u/pr0npr0npr0n01
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How did spiders get on (almost) every continent? Did they hitch a ride on coconut rafts, or are their spider ancestors old enough to have walked around Pangaea?

Posted: 10 Mar 2017 08:56 AM PST

How do the nuclear forces work?

Posted: 10 Mar 2017 06:35 AM PST

Which force (strong/weak) was discovered first? What about the nuclear forces makes them special, that they do not amount to a manifestation of electromagnetism on a much smaller scale, for example...unless you consider electroweak unification?

How are color and flavor physically observed, experimentally speaking?

submitted by /u/JuliusROppenheimer
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How can a single particle have no temperature?

Posted: 10 Mar 2017 07:39 AM PST

I was reading Neil deGrasse Tyson Death by Black Hole when it says, "a single particle can't have a temperature because temperature is how fast all the particles of something are moving so a single particle can't have a temperature."

The definition I understand but something having no temperature I can't understand.

submitted by /u/FlexibleFryingPans
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How is mental concentration measured?

Posted: 10 Mar 2017 09:23 AM PST

When a medication or other product says it enhances your ability to concentrate, how is this tested?

On the same coin, how do I know if I was able to complete a task due to better concentration, rather than due to the problem being easy enough for me to complete without aid?

Obviously, you can't make people do the same task without and then with the substance, because you might argue they have now practiced the task and become better, yielding better results.

submitted by /u/EquationTAKEN
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There is chlorine in this tap water. If I shake the bottle and then open it back up, will it evaporate any faster?

Posted: 10 Mar 2017 02:15 PM PST

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