# behav: the oddity about the highly inactive ants (Temnothorax rugatulus)

<< Social insect colonies are highly successful, self-organized complex systems. Surprisingly however, most social insect colonies contain large numbers of highly inactive workers. Although this may seem inefficient, it may be that inactive workers actually contribute to colony function >>

Daniel Charbonneau, Takao Sasaki, Anna Dornhaus. Who needs ‘lazy’ workers? Inactive workers act as a ‘reserve’ labor force replacing active workers, but inactive workers are not replaced when they are removed. PLOS ONE 12(9): e0184074. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0184074 Sep 6, 2017

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0184074

<< Analyzing the video recordings revealed that a colony breaks down into four main demographics [..]: inactive, lazy ants; so-called walkers that spend most of their time just wandering around the nest; foragers that take care of outside tasks such as foraging and building protective walls from tiny rocks; and nurses in charge of rearing the brood >>

Lazy ants make themselves useful in unexpected ways. Sep 8, 2017

https://m.phys.org/news/2017-09-lazy-ants-unexpected-ways.html

# behav: spreading conflicts through monkey societies

<< How does conflict spread through a society? One way to think of conflict spreading is to picture an epidemic, with aggressive individuals "infecting" others and causing them to join the fight >>

<< It appears that it is not individuals who control the length of fights, but the relationships between pairs of individuals >>

AA << found evidence for a more complicated structure behind >>

AA << found evidence that conflict duration is strongly affected by the first interaction, which sets the tone for the fight. If the first interaction is brief, then following episodes are likely to be just as brief. A long drawn out initial brawl, however, will be followed by similarly difficult episodes. This, Flack [Jessica Flack] says, "is a signature of collective memory," meaning "the duration of the conflict is not just determined by individuals independently deciding whether to continue fighting or drop out, but through their joint memory for the past and subsequent collective decision-making." >>

How conflicts spread through monkey societies. Sep 7, 2017

https://m.phys.org/news/2017-09-conflicts-monkey-societies.html

Edward D. Lee, Bryan C. Daniels, et al.  Collective memory in primate conflict implied by temporal scaling collapse. Journal of the Royal Society Interface. doi: 10.1098/rsif.2017.0223 Sep 6 2017.

http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/14/134/20170223

# poetry: apropos di ritmiche: "sul dilatare a spiroide dei lembi segugi ..."

<< N. sul dilatare a spiroide dei lembi segugi //

venati a trapunte //

di slento flusso probante che slitta //

(...)

2135 - strappati dal punto stabile. Jun 04, 2007

http://inkpi.blogspot.it/2007/06/2135-strappati-dal-punto-stabile.html

# acad: cinnamon buns, pretzels and bagels to explain unusual phases or states of matter, by Thors

<< What do a pretzel, a lock of hair and a scream have in common? >>

<< Thors Hans Hansson, a member of the Nobel physics committee, uses a cinnamon bun, a pretzel and a bagel to explain the field of topology, a highly specialised mathematics field studying unusual phases or states of matter >>

<< Referring to the two holes in the pretzel, the one hole in the bagel, and the shape of a bun, Hansson demonstrated that topology explains how a material's shape can be completely deformed into a new one without losing its core properties >>

Ilgin Karlidag. Bagels, pretzels, Boo! How to explain science Nobels. Oct 1, 2017

https://m.phys.org/news/2017-10-bagels-pretzels-boo-science-nobels.html

# bot-nano: programmable molecular machines to assemble molecular machines

<< It has been convincingly argued that molecular machines that manipulate individual atoms, or highly reactive clusters of atoms, with Angstrom precision are unlikely to be realized >>

AA << detail an artificial molecular machine that moves a substrate between different activating sites to achieve different product outcomes from chemical synthesis >>

AA << anticipate that future generations of programmable molecular machines may have significant roles in chemical synthesis and molecular manufacturing >>

Salma Kassem, Alan T. L. Lee, et al.  Stereodivergent synthesis with a programmable molecular machine. Nature 2017; 549: 374–378. Sep 21. doi: 10.1038/nature23677

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v549/n7672/full/nature23677.html

Scientists create world’s first ‘molecular robot’ capable of building molecules. Sep 20, 2017

http://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/scientists-create-worlds-first-molecular-robot-capable-of-building-molecules/

CAMERA - Chemistry at Manchester Explains Research Advances

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCXf3CFkyGpa2eIeT5wz_Prw/featured

# chem: self-assembly in icosahedral (3D) nanoscale architectures

<< capsid proteins of spherical plant viruses can self-assemble into well-organized icosahedral three-dimensional (3D) nanoscale multivalent architectures with high monodispersity and structural symmetry >>

Narayanan KB, Han SS. Icosahedral plant viral nanoparticles - bioinspired synthesis of nanomaterials/nanostructures. Adv Colloid Interface Sci. 2017 Aug 31. pii: S0001-8686(16)30366-9. doi: 10.1016/j.cis.2017.08.005.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/28916111/

# gst: to estimate a minimum size of an earthquake

<< Although the overall size of an earthquake cannot be predicted from the rate of energy release, a minimum size can be estimated. Estimating this minimum size could add valuable seconds to early earthquake warning algorithms >>

M.A. Meier, J. P. Ampuero, T. H. Heaton. The hidden simplicity of subduction megathrust earthquakes.  Science Sep 22,  2017: 357 (6357): 1277-81. doi: 10.1126/science.aan5643

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/357/6357/1277