Interesting Facts About Ants

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Like all insects, ants have six legs. Each leg has three joints. The legs of the ant are very strong so they can run very quickly. If a man could run as fast for his size as an ant can, he could run as fast as a racehorse. Ants can lift 20 times their own body weight. An ant brain has about 250 000 brain cells. A human brain has 10,000 million so a colony of 40,000 ants has collectively the same size brain as a human.

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The average life expectancy of an ant is 45-60 days. Ants use their antenae not only for touch, but also for their sense of smell. The head of the ant has a pair of large, strong jaws. The jaws open and shut sideways like a pair of scissors. Adult ants cannot chew and swallow solid food. Instead they swallow the juice which they squeeze from pieces of food. They throw away the dry part that is left over. The ant has two eyes, each eye is made of many smaller eyes.

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They are called compound eyes. The abdomen of the ant contains two stomachs. One stomach holds the food for itself and second stomach is for food to be shared with other ants. Like all insects, the outside of their body is covered with a hard armour this is called the exoskeleton. Ants have four distinct growing stages, the egg, larva, pupa and the adult. Biologists classify ants as a special group of wasps. (Hymenoptera Formicidae) There are over 10000 known species of ants. Each ant colony has at least one or more queens.

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The job of the queen is to lay eggs which the worker ants look after. Worker ants are sterile, they look for food, look after the young, and defend the nest from unwanted visitors. Ants are clean and tidy insects. Some worker ants are given the job of taking the rubbish from the nest and putting it outside in a special rubbish dump! Each colony of ants has its own smell. In this way, intruders can be recognized immediately. Many ants such as the common Red species have a sting which they use to defend their nest.

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The common Black Ants and Wood Ants have no sting, but they can squirt a spray of formic acid. Some birds put ants in their feathers because the ants squirt formic acid which gets rid of the parasites. The Slave-Maker Ant (Polyergus Rufescens) raids the nests of other ants and steals their pupae. When these new ants hatch,they work as slaves within the colony. The worker ants keep the eggs and larvae in different groups according to ages.

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At night the worker ants move the eggs and larvae deep into the nest to protect them from the cold. During the daytime, the worker ants move the eggs and larvae of the colony to the top of the nest so that they can be warmer. If a worker ant has found a good source for food, it leaves a trail of scent so that the other ants in the colony can find the food. Army Ants are nomadic and they are always moving. They carry their larvae and their eggs with them in a long column.

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The Army Ant (Ecitron Burchelli) of South America, can have as many as 700,000 members in its colony. The Leaf Cutter Ants are farmers. They cut out pieces of leaves which they take back to their nests. They chew them into a pulp and a special fungus grows it. Ants cannot digest leaves because they cannot digest cellulose. Many people think ants are a pest but I like them. To stop them coming into my kitchen I put some sugar outside. They they have so much to eat that they are not interested in coming into my kitchen.

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Popcorn Don’t Boost Diverticulosis Risk

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By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter
Tuesday, August 26, 2008; 12:00 AM

TUESDAY, Aug. 26 (HealthDay News) — People with diverticular disease, a common digestive disorder, are typically told to avoid eating popcorn, nuts, seeds and corn so they don’t get painful attacks.

But, a new study calls into question that conventional wisdom. The study of more than 47,000 men found that eating those foods did not seem to increase the risk of diverticulosis or diverticular complications.

“We found, contrary to current recommendations, that actually, consumption of these foods did not increase the risk of diverticulitis or diverticular bleeding and didn’t appear to increase the risk of developing diverticulosis or its complications,” said study lead author Dr. Lisa Strate, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine, in Seattle.

The findings are published in the Aug. 27 issue of theJournal of the American Medical Association.

Diverticular disease affects the colon, the part of the large intestine that discards waste. Diverticulosis occurs when pouches — called diverticula — form in the colon. Stool or bacteria can lodge in the pouches. Diverticulitis occurs when the pouches get inflamed; symptoms can include bleeding, infection or a blockage of the digestive system.

One third of U.S. adults have diverticulosis by age 60, although most do not experience serious problems. By age 85, two-thirds of people have come down with the condition, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

The exact cause isn’t known, although many experts blame a low-fiber diet. Muscle strain during defecation may cause the pouches to form.

The advice to avoid nuts, seeds, popcorn and corn comes from the belief that these foods may be more likely to become lodged within the pouches. But there’s been no proof demonstrating such a link.

And Strate’s study failed to find a link, either. Evaluating data from the long-running Health Professionals Follow-up Study, a cohort of men followed from 1986 to 2004, she and her colleagues looked at medical records every two years and dietary information for every four years. The men ranged in age from 40 to 75.

At the study start, all were free of diverticulosis or complications. Eighteen years later, 801 had experienced diverticulitis, and 383 had diverticular bleeding.

When the study authors compared men with the highest intake of foods such as nuts with those with the lowest, they found that those who ate the most nuts were actually 20 percent less likely to get diverticulitis than those who ate the least. And those men who ate the most popcorn were 28 percent less likely to get diverticulitis than those eating the least.

No association was found for corn.

Strate thinks the longstanding dietary recommendations should be reconsidered, but she cautioned that hers was just one study. She believes the findings would probably apply to women, too.

Dr. Anthony Starpoli, an attending gastroenterologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, who is familiar with the new findings, said that even though the study numbers were large, the results may not apply to everyone. “There are probably going to be a subset of people where perhaps a more restrictive diet does benefit them,” he said.

Starpoli said that, while the recommendation to avoid nuts, popcorn and seeds isn’t based on scientific studies, there are people who do experience distress when they eat those foods.

“If you are a patient with known diverticular disease, and you have had the experience of eating seeds, nuts and popcorn and developed diverticular pain as assessed by your doctor, you should probably not have those foods.”

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Reference:http://www.washingtonpost.com/

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Russia accused of abusing truce

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The US and France have accused Russia of failing to comply with the terms of its ceasefire with Georgia by creating buffer zones and checkpoints.

Russia announced the full withdrawal of combat forces from Georgia proper on Friday but insisted hundreds of other troops could stay under the ceasefire.

France brokered the ceasefire to end fighting over Georgia’s pro-Russian breakaway province of South Ossetia.

Its terms are vague about the extent of any buffer zones, analysts say.

A White House spokesman, Gordon Johndroe, said the checkpoints and buffer zones set up by Russia were not part of the ceasefire agreement.

A spokesman for the French foreign ministry, Eric Chevalier, said a United Nations Security Council resolution was needed to clarify exactly what the ceasefire agreement covers.

The Russian military say they intend to maintain a peacekeeping presence in Georgia, controlling buffer zones around both South Ossetia and the other breakaway province, Abkhazia.

The zones include sections of the main highway from the capital Tbilisi to the Black Sea as well as Georgia’s main airbase at Senaki.

‘Clearly stated’

US President George W Bush and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy agreed in a telephone conversation on Friday that Russia was “not in compliance [with the ceasefire] and that Russia needs to come into compliance now”, Mr Johndroe said.

“Compliance means compliance with that plan,” he added.

“We haven’t seen that yet. It’s my understanding that they have not completely withdrawn from areas considered undisputed territory, and they need to do that.”

“Establishing checkpoints, buffer zones, are definitely not part of the agreement,” US state department spokesman Robert Wood added.

The French spokesman told the BBC that the ceasefire had stipulated that Russia’s forces “should go back to the situation before the hostilities started”.

“The idea is that, yes, for a temporary period some Russian peace forces could stay on… next to the [border] line of Ossetia but it’s temporary, it should be for patrolling and it should be until we have an international mechanism,” Mr Chevalier said.

“It was clearly stated that this presence first has to be through patrolling, no fixed presence and, second, should not have an effect on the freedom of movement on roads and trains in this place.”

The UN Security Council split this week over a resolution, with rival drafts submitted by Moscow, and the US and its allies.

BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says Western diplomats fear that Moscow is determined to define the parameters of the interim security arrangements on its own terms.

Part of the problem, he adds, is the extraordinary vagueness of the EU-brokered ceasefire deal, which speaks only of “additional security measures” in “the immediate proximity of South Ossetia” – proximity being defined as a distance of “several kilometres”.

‘Zone of responsibility’

Moscow intends to maintain a peacekeeping presence of nearly 2,600 troops in the buffer zones for the foreseeable future, backed by armoured cars and helicopters.

Of these, 2,142 will be deployed along Abkhazia’s de facto border and 452 on the de facto border of South Ossetia, the Russian military said.

Russia’s so-called “zone of responsibility” also includes Georgia’s main airbase at Senaki, some 40km (25 miles) from the boundary with Abkhazia, which sits astride vital road and rail links to the Black Sea port of Poti.

BBC correspondents on the ground say they have seen what appears to be a significant Russian troop movement out of Georgia.

The BBC’s Gabriel Gatehouse in Igoeti – just 35km (21 miles) from the capital, Tbilisi – says he saw Russian troops leave the town, joining a column of hundreds of armoured vehicles on the road towards South Ossetia.

Our correspondent says buses of Georgian police are arriving in Igoeti to take control after Russian troops removed their roadblocks and pulled out.

But another correspondent in the nearby town of Korvaleti says Georgian police vehicles there are still being blocked at checkpoints.

Russia’s four-day war with Georgia began after Tbilisi tried to retake South Ossetia – which broke away in 1992 – in a surprise offensive on 7 August.

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Is My Poor Posture to Blame?

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If you’re like me, you can probably recall as a child having an older relative always remind you to “sit up straight” so you didn’t end up like your “poor Aunt Nedra”.

And, if you were like most of us, you did exactly as they asked – until they left the room.
But now you may be wondering if all that slouching you did, as a child is actually to blame for your scoliosis.

Well, the answer is NO!

While the exact causes of scoliosis are still being studied today; one thing we do know is scoliosis is absolutely, positively not caused by slouching – or any other form of poor posture for that matter.

Now there is a little factor we do know that controls posture during rapid spinal column growth in scoliosis called the ocular/vestibular mechanism. This mechanism creates a false positive posture, which allows the curves to progress and the brain thinks that the spine position is a ok.

Join me in the coming weeks as we explore some more interesting facts and background on osteoporosis in scoliosis.

We Take the Fear and Worry Out of Scoliosis

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Dr. Art Copes

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Videogames getting minds of their own

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LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Videogames are getting smarter with virtual enemies improvising during battles, storylines shifting based on moral choices and in-game characters sending players text messages for help.

Titles unveiled at the just-concluded Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles feature artificial intelligence (AI), making in-game worlds more realistic and less predictable.

“”There was a lot we had to do,”" Peter Hines of Bethesda Softworks said as AFP tried the studio’s eagerly-awaited “”Fallout 3″” shooter game, set in a post nuclear war Washington, DC.

AI software in “”Fallout 3″” lets enemies change tactics depending on what players do.

“”They are being smart about being in a combat situation,”" Hines said.

The game is also designed so that players’ choices effect which computer-controlled factions become their allies or enemies.

A “”Project Origin”" action horror game built by Monolith Productions for Warner Interactive Studios boasts “”vastly enhanced”" AI that makes enemies act realistically and use environments to their advantage.

“”See, he threw the car door open because it was the smartest way to take cover,”" a Monolith developer said of an on-screen adversary while showing AFP the game. “”That isn’t scripted. He is figuring it out as he goes.”" Custom software that Gearbox Software built “”Borderlands”" video game generates a “”near-endless”" array of missions, enemies, environments and weapons.

“”Borderlands”" is an “”evolutionary leap in game design and technology,”" 2K Games president Christoph Hartmann said when it was announced that the title will be published by his firm’s parent company, Take-Two Interactive.

“”Borderlands”" is set on a lawless planet called Pandora where bandits rove badlands with a “”very ‘Mad Max’ vibe,”" Gearbox president Randy Pickford said while demonstrating the game.

The videogame’s software has generated more than a half million weapons and hidden them about Pandora, surprising even its creators.

“”Wow, that’s a cool gun and it has a blade,”" Pickford said to a colleague playing the game. “”You definitely want to pick that one up.”"

Lionshead Studio built AI into an animated dog that serves as an enviable companion for players of “”Fable 2,”" according to the firm’s creative director Peter Molyneaux.

“”Fable 2″” also has a “”dynamic landscape”" that changes depending on whether players prefer to visit towns, linger in faux taverns, or hack and slash adversaries, Molyneaux said during an E3 preview of the game.

Nintendo software developer Katsuya Eguchi’s “”Animal Crossing”" game inhabited by creatures with lives that go one whether players are not in-world.

“”Even when you aren’t playing the game the animals get up in the morning and go to bed at night,”" Eguchi said. The multi-player online game for Nintendo’s Wii consoles is time-synched to give people the illusion they are playing together, no matter when they venture into the virtual realm. Nintendo is also marketing “”MotionPlus”" devices that attach to Wii controllers so the motion-sensing devices pick up more nuanced movements.

Sony Online Entertainment is putting finishing touches on an online secret agent game called “”The Agency”" that gives players command of operatives that work around the clock.

If operatives need help, they can send real-world team leaders email or mobile telephone text messages, Matt Wilson of “”The Agency”" development team told AFP.

“”You might send an operative to find a Colombian drug lord, then be sitting in a bar and get a text message telling you he found the target,”" Wilson said.

“”The bad news is he was captured and they want a million dollars ransom or they’ll kill him. You’ll hit 1 on the phone to pay the ransom or 2 to refuse.”"

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Reference:http://www.tehrantimes.com/Index_view.asp?code=175815

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