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Welcome brave new world: scientists create freakish man-made monster ants with huge heads and jaws
Daily Mail ^ | 9:13 PM on 5th January 2012
 | Rob Waugh

Posted on 01/05/2012 6:18:26 PM PST by null and void

Nightmarish 'supersoldier' ants with huge heads and jaws have been created by activating ancient genes.


A supersoldier next to a normal ant: Scientists say they can create the supersoldiers at will by dabbing normal ant larvae with a special hormone - the larvae then develop into supersoldiers rather than normal soldier or worker ants

Supersoldier ants can occur naturally in the wild, but only rarely. In the deserts of America and Mexico, their job is to protect the colony from raids by invading army ants.

The supersoldiers use their enormous heads to block the nest entrance and attack any enemy ants that get too close.

Scientists showed that ordinary ants of the species Pheidole morrisi contain all the genetic 'tools' needed to turn them into supersoldiers - they just need a hormonal push.

The research is reported today in the journal Science.


Scientists created the monster ants in the laboratory by activating ancient ancestral genes

Authors Dr Rajendhran Rajakumar, from McGill University, Canada, and colleagues wrote: 'We uncovered an ancestral development potential to produce a novel supersoldier subcaste that has been retained throughout a hyperdiverse ant genus that evolved 35 to 60 million years ago.'

The results suggest that holding on to ancestral development toolkits may play an important role in evolving new physical traits, say the researchers.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: napl; them
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To: cricket
Doctor's take Hippocratic Oath; what do scientists promise to honor?

Grant granters...

41 posted on 01/05/2012 7:48:01 PM PST by null and void (Day 1080 of America's ObamaVacation from reality [Heroes aren't made, Frank, they're cornered...])
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To: KosmicKitty

A just man’s heart beats right...


42 posted on 01/05/2012 7:52:52 PM PST by null and void (Day 1080 of America's ObamaVacation from reality [Heroes aren't made, Frank, they're cornered...])
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To: KoRn; MeekOneGOP; Conspiracy Guy; DocRock; King Prout; Darksheare; OSHA; martin_fierro; ...
Am I the only one thinking of So I Married an Axe Murderer?


43 posted on 01/05/2012 8:06:38 PM PST by Slings and Arrows (You can't have Ingsoc without an Emmanuel Goldstein.)
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To: Slings and Arrows
Am I the only one thinking of So I Married an Axe Murderer?

Yeah. Pretty much.

44 posted on 01/05/2012 8:09:46 PM PST by null and void (Day 1080 of America's ObamaVacation from reality [Heroes aren't made, Frank, they're cornered...])
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To: KoRn

“...create ants that are the size of school buses,...” Funny you should bring that up. I was just saying to Mr. SG the other night, “Gee, I wish someone would develop and ant with huge jaws....”


45 posted on 01/05/2012 8:14:14 PM PST by Silentgypsy (If this creature is not stopped it could make its way to Novosibirsk!)
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To: null and void

GO PACKERS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpcfkcqbDes&feature=related


46 posted on 01/05/2012 8:19:16 PM PST by dfwgator
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To: dfwgator

L O L !


47 posted on 01/05/2012 8:27:02 PM PST by Liberty Valance (Keep a simple manner for a happy life :o)
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To: null and void

Somewhere in Louisiana, someone is already putting together a recipe for them.


48 posted on 01/05/2012 8:28:18 PM PST by JRios1968 (I'm guttery and trashy, with a hint of lemon. - Laz)
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To: dfwgator

That was hilarious!


49 posted on 01/05/2012 8:32:32 PM PST by rlmorel ("A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject." Winston Churchill)
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To: null and void

Note to self: Buy a bigger bag of Amdro next year.


50 posted on 01/05/2012 8:36:55 PM PST by Some Fat Guy in L.A. (Go Steelers (what's the baseball team called again?))
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To: JRios1968

I’m sure that recipe involves rice, a roux and hot sauce.


51 posted on 01/05/2012 8:52:46 PM PST by Redcitizen (If I did a Vulcan mind meld on you, there would not be much to review. ;))
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To: Redcitizen

Pinch dey haids...


52 posted on 01/05/2012 8:56:39 PM PST by null and void (Day 1080 of America's ObamaVacation from reality [Heroes aren't made, Frank, they're cornered...])
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To: cricket
Ants with big heads worry you? I'm still freaked about the scientists who want to publish a paper on a how to make H5N1 influenza virus more easily transmissible.
53 posted on 01/05/2012 8:59:17 PM PST by rmlew ("Mosques are our barracks, minarets our bayonets, domes our helmets, the believers our soldiers.")
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To: Slings and Arrows
Head!Move!
54 posted on 01/05/2012 9:04:07 PM PST by GQuagmire ('Don't Piss The Lady Off'...)
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To: GQuagmire

Bingo!

“HEEEED! PAHNTS!”


55 posted on 01/05/2012 9:16:08 PM PST by Slings and Arrows (You can't have Ingsoc without an Emmanuel Goldstein.)
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To: GQuagmire

"HEAD! MOVE!"

56 posted on 01/05/2012 9:20:02 PM PST by Slings and Arrows (You can't have Ingsoc without an Emmanuel Goldstein.)
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To: null and void

57 posted on 01/05/2012 11:53:48 PM PST by ketelone
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To: null and void

Ahh, yes; the ‘Grants’/lol/sigh. . .


58 posted on 01/06/2012 2:13:59 AM PST by cricket (/get the 'Occupier out of o;ur White House!/ vote Newt 'in'. . .and it is NOT just the economy!)
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To: null and void
A just man’s heart beats right...

I knew someone would get it :-)

59 posted on 01/06/2012 5:58:38 AM PST by KosmicKitty (WARNING: Hormonally crazed woman ahead!!)
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To: Slings and Arrows

“Duuuh gee boss, I’m not real smart. But I lift heavy things!” -big ant.


60 posted on 01/06/2012 6:21:35 AM PST by Darksheare (You will never defeat Bok Choy!)
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