Mathematical support for insect colonies as superorganisms. Click through for the scatterplot.
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The mighty insect colonies of ants, termites and bees have been described as superorganisms. Through the concerted action of many bodies working towards a common goal, they can achieve great feats of architecture, agriculture and warfare that individual insects cannot.
That's more than just an…
Figure 1. Relationship between normalized metabolic rate and body mass for unitary organisms and whole colonies (from Hou et al 2010)
The notion that insect colonies and their constituent individuals are analogous to multicellular organisms and their constituent cells has been a controversial…
Yesterday I posted this graph, a parallel-coordinates plot showing health care spending and life expectancy in a sample of countries:
I remarked that a scatterplot should be better. Commenter Freddy posted a link to the data, so, just for laffs, I spent a few minutes making a scatterplot…
In 1912, Antarctic explorer Captain Lawrence Oates willingly walked to his death so that his failing health would not jeopardise his friends' odds of survival. Stepping from his tent into a raging blizzard, he left his men with the immortal words, "I am just going outside and may be some time." It…