Ants in your house? Here’s how they get everywhere – even high up in tall buildings

Windy Soemara/Shutterstock Tanya Latty, University of SydneyAnts are among nature’s greatest success stories, with an estimated 22,000 species worldwide. Tropical Australia in particular is a global hotspot for ant diversity. Some researchers believe it could hold some of the richest ant biodiversity on the planet, with an estimated 5,000 species in the tropics alone. But if ants are so successful out in nature, why do they so often turn up in our homes and even upper-level apartments? And what can we do to keep them out? There’s probably an ant near you right now Ants dominate the planet in terms of sheer abundance. At any given moment, there are an estimated 20 quadrillion ants alive — that’s 20 followed by 15 zeros. In fact, for every human being, there are roughly 2.5 million ants. There are about 22,000 ant species worldwide. This one is called the Green tree ant (Oecophylla smaragdina). Tanya LattySo the short answer to “Why are there ants in my house?” is simply this: there are a lot of ants. We live on a planet where ants outnumber us by an almost unimaginable margin. The fact that a few occasionally wander into our homes shouldn’t come as a surprise. Ants work from home (yours, that is) Ants owe much of their success to their highly social nature. Within the colony, some individuals (female queens...

Read More........→March 28, 2025

Curious Kids: what was the biggest dinosaur that ever lived?

Getty Images Nic Rawlence, University of OtagoWhat actually was the biggest dinosaur? – Zavier, 14, Tauranga, New Zealand. Great question Zavier, and one that palaeontologists (scientists who study fossil animals and plants) are interested in all around the world. And let’s face it, kids of all ages (and I include adults here) are fascinated by dinosaurs that break records for the biggest, the longest, the scariest or the fastest. It’s why, to this day, one of most famous dinosaurs is still Tyranosaurus rex, the tyrant king. These record-breaking dinosaurs are part of the reason why the Jurassic Park movie franchise has been so successful. Just think of the scene where Dr Alan Grant (played by New Zealand actor Sam Neill) is stunned by the giant sauropod dinosaur rearing up to reach the highest leaves in the tree with its long neck. But how do scientists work out how big and heavy a dinosaur was? And what were the biggest dinosaurs that ever lived? Calculating dinosaur size In an ideal world, calculating how big a dinosaur was would be easy – with a nearly complete skeleton. Standing next to the remarkable Triceratops skeleton on permanent display at Melbourne Museum makes you realise how gigantic and formidable these creatures were. By measuring bone proportions (such as length,...

Read More........→March 19, 2025