Termites: intriguing people for centuries, yet to be replicated

September 15, 2018 4:41 PM

From The New Yorker's Annals of Entomology: What Termites Can Teach Us — Roboticists are fascinated by their “swarm intelligence,” biologists by their ability to turn grass into energy. But can humans replicate their achievements? Amia Srinivasan looks back on people's interest in termites, from The Soul of the White Ant (translated) by Eugène N. Marais and the earlier Some Account of the Termites, Which are Found in Africa and Other Hot Climates. In a Letter from Mr. Henry Smeathman (Archive.org), to the new review of modern scientific inquiries, Lisa Margonelli's new book, Underbug: An Obsessive Tale of Termites and Technology (Goodreads; Amazon).
posted by filthy light thief (3 comments total)

I found this bit particularly interesting:

The willingness, on the part of a physicist like García Martín, to talk about the 'memories' and 'interests' of biological systems is surprising. But it reflects a larger shift among synthetic biologists away from a belief in the fundamentally mechanical nature of life.
posted by ryanshepard at 5:39 PM on September 15, 2018 [3 favorites]

The whole article is choc-full of tidbits and facts that I was not aware of until today, it's a good read. And it put Underbug on my reading list.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:07 PM on September 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

A giant crawling brain: the jaw-dropping world of termites – At least half of termite studies used to be about how to kill them. But science is discovering their extraordinary usefulness. (a lengthy extract from Underbug by Lisa Margonelli for The Guardian's "The Long Read" feature)
posted by filthy light thief at 8:11 AM on September 19, 2018