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Grooming Helps Insects Keep Their Senses Sharpened

By Guest PostFebruary 7, 2013Nature, Scienceacute olfactory senses, american cockroaches, antennae, antennal cleaning, ayako wada katsumata, behavior, carpenter ants, chemicals, cleaning off antennae, coby schal, common function, cuticular hydrocarbons, dale batchelor, entomologist, environmental pollutants, german cockroaches, grooming, host of functions, insect grooming, insects, insects groom themselves, katalin boroczky, marianna zhukovskaya, mechanisms, microscopic pores, non volatile chemicals, north Carolina, odorants, olfaction, particular level, particulates, russian academy, sciences, self absorbed teenager, senses, sensory receptors, sex pheromone compound, state university, volatile, water loss

Like a self-absorbed teenager, insects spend a lot of time grooming.

In a study that delves into the mechanisms behind this common function, North Carolina State University researchers show that insect grooming – specifically, antennal cleaning – removes both environmental pollutants and chemicals produced by the insects themselves.

The findings, published online this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that grooming helps insects maintain acute olfactory senses that are responsible for a host of functions, including finding food, sensing danger and even locating a suitable mate. (more…)

Ants Give New Evidence for Interaction Networks

*UA researchers have uncovered evidence in ant colonies suggesting that social networks may function differently than previously assumed.*

Be it through the Internet, Facebook, the local grapevine or the spread of disease, interaction networks influence nearly every part of our lives.

Scientists previously assumed that interaction networks without central control, known as self-directed networks, have universal properties that make them efficient at spreading information. Just think of the local grapevine: Let something slip, and it seems like no time at all before nearly everyone knows. (more…)

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Grooming Helps Insects Keep Their Senses Sharpened

Ants Give New Evidence for Interaction Networks