Ants exploit differences in body surface chemistry to distinguish nestmates from colony intruders. Socially parasitic ants in Madagascar have convergently evolved morphological similarities to host worker anatomy, implying that body shape may also be surveilled. Studies of tactile behaviors in ant societies are now needed.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.07.010 | DOI Listing |
Adv Mater
December 2024
The State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Science, Shanghai, 200050, China.
Artif Life
August 2024
Adjacent Lab.
We have discovered a novel transition rule for binary cellular automata (CAs) that yields self-replicating structures across two spatial and temporal scales from sparse random initial conditions. Lower-level, shape-shifting clusters frequently follow a transient attractor trajectory, generating new clusters, some of which periodically self-duplicate. When the initial distribution of live cells is sufficiently sparse, these clusters coalesce into larger formations that also self-replicate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiol Lett
November 2023
Department of Biological Sciences, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada L2S 3A1.
Endotherms use their appendages-such as legs, tails, ears and bills-for thermoregulation by controlling blood flow to near-surface blood vessels, conserving heat when it is cold, and dissipating heat in hot conditions. Larger appendages allow greater heat dissipation, and appendage sizes vary latitudinally according to Allen's rule. However, little is known about the relative importance of different appendages for thermoregulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhys Rev Lett
October 2023
Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, University of Cambridge, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge CB3 0WA, United Kingdom.
The recent discovery of the striking sheetlike multicellular choanoflagellate species Choanoeca flexa that dynamically interconverts between two hemispherical forms of opposite orientation raises fundamental questions in cell and evolutionary biology, as choanoflagellates are the closest living relatives of animals. It similarly motivates questions in fluid and solid mechanics concerning the differential swimming speeds in the two states and the mechanism of curvature inversion triggered by changes in the geometry of microvilli emanating from each cell. Here we develop fluid dynamical and mechanical models to address these observations and show that they capture the main features of the swimming, feeding, and inversion of C.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMol Hum Reprod
November 2022
Department of Cell Biology and Biochemistry, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX, USA.
The epididymal lumen is an immunologically distinct environment. It maintains tolerance for the naturally antigenic spermatozoa to allow their maturation into functional cells while simultaneously defending against pathogens that can ascend the male tract and cause infertility. We previously demonstrated that a nonpathological amyloid matrix that includes several cystatin-related epididymal spermatogenic (CRES) subgroup family members is distributed throughout the mouse epididymal lumen but its function was unknown.
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