Comments on: A formidable smell

By: Harold

Harold — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 21:26:53 +0000

Sounds like something dear Dr. E.O. Wilson would find fascinating.

We have a golden-brown ant here in Northeastern Pennsylvania that smells (in its unburned state) exactly like lemon furniture polish. I know concentrated hydrochloric acid smells like Froot Loops (at least it does when it is spilled on blotter paper), but does formic acid smell like lemon furniture polish?

By: sirjonsnow

sirjonsnow — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 14:17:19 +0000

“OK, so which one of you science nerds gets the title of this, eh?”

Ants are in the Formicidae family

By: Aubri

Aubri — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 13:01:58 +0000

I suspect that burning ants smells a lot like burning hair, since hair and exoskeletons are both made of keratin.

Oh, and please don’t inflict such puns on etymology nerds. It hurts. >_

By: skeptigirl

skeptigirl — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 01:53:55 +0000

You wouldn’t believe how many cockroaches can fit in a toaster oven.

By: Supernova

Supernova — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 23:41:15 +0000

Oh yes, I remember the Wisconsin ladybugs. I was the observatory resident at U. Wisconsin for four years and we got those invasions every year. The carcasses would pile up inside the lights in the dome and they’d be underfoot everywhere. Had kind of an acrid metallic smell. Yeccch. But the only actual bug we ever found in the telescope or computer equipment was a regular old fly in the ointment… er, spectrograph.

By: Deacon Barry

Deacon Barry — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 21:20:30 +0000

There was an old lady who swallowed a horse.
She’s dead.
Of course.

By: bonnie-ann black

bonnie-ann black — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 19:49:17 +0000

one of the most pungent insectoid smells i’ve ever encountered was a few years ago when the 17-year cicada cycle came around and invaded baltimore. i went to visit my cousin and the entire city smelled like crushed, fermenting and decaying cicadas. a bittersweet, acrid, smell that had weird top notes of citrus. not necessarily unpleasant but really, really noticeable.

alas, i also was too late to prove that i got the joke.

By: Will. M.

Will. M. — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 18:07:08 +0000

Ah, BA: “what’s an upside down air can?”

By: Irishman

Irishman — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 17:54:33 +0000

CR said:
>According to some, they [ladybugs] were originally introduced into the ecology to combat an aphid problem without the use of chemicals/pesticides, but now they themselves are problematic. Go figure.

There was an old lady who swalled a frog,
she swallowed the frog to swallow a spider,
she swallowed the spider to swallow a fly,
I don’t know why she swallowed the fly,
I guess she’ll die.

By: Karnalis

Karnalis — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 17:48:45 +0000

Ooh, I get it! I’m a science nerd too! I’m just too late to get it first. Drat…

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 16:51:35 +0000

Grand Lunar,

The first computer bug predates vacuum equipment – it was the relay-based Mark II and was found by Grace Hopper. See

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper

For a picture.

By: Joshua

Joshua — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 15:57:00 +0000

Intelligent ants? Quick, somebody call MacGuyver!

Oh, pop culture references. What would Family Guy be without you?

By: BA Brother

BA Brother — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 10:56:39 +0000

Hey! Don’t forget the “Zanti Misfits.”

By: antaresrichard

antaresrichard — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 08:22:41 +0000

BA don’t be like Leiningen (Charlton Heston)! Save yourself! The marabuntas: “forty square miles of agonizing death”!!!

By: CR

CR — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 07:56:38 +0000

Wisconsin has its own “ladybug” (Asian Beetle) problem. Zillions of the annoying things everywhere. According to some, they were originally introduced into the ecology to combat an aphid problem without the use of chemicals/pesticides, but now they themselves are problematic. Go figure.

By: Kyle_Carm

Kyle_Carm — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 05:57:26 +0000

Up the Univ. Wyoming Infared Telescope they have major infestations of Ladybugs. The walls are covered with them upto a 1-2 foot off the ground. I visited them one time and all their printouts were covered in smashed ladybugs. (Old dot matix printers) I think they even have some photos posted around somewhere showing them covering the walls. No seems to know why they do it.

By: ABR

ABR — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 04:40:52 +0000

Sounds like “Phase IV” to me, too.

By: The Bad Astronomer

The Bad Astronomer — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 04:23:49 +0000

“Phase 4″?

There’s also “Empire of the Ants” with Joan Collins. Yikes.

Both, incidentally, off the top of my head. I’ve seen too many movies.

By: Sparks

Sparks — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 03:39:29 +0000

Hats off to Ray Gray!

What was the name of that film, anyway? Second only to “Them” in it’s anty goodness. C’mon now, someone must know. Not giant ants, but smart ones and everytime the humans did something to pismire them off, they adapted (rather too quickly for natural selection to be the culprit).

By: antkiller

antkiller — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 03:20:59 +0000

There another way to see what smell burning ants have.
It involves a magnifying glass, a sunny day and a ten-year old kid.

By: The Bad Astronomer

The Bad Astronomer — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 03:17:23 +0000

Yup. It rained here last week, and we think that’s what started this. Feh.

By: ABR

ABR — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 02:44:53 +0000

Ah, California! The annual invasion of argentine ants (though not silver, mind you) can mean only one thing — the rainy season is upon us.

By: The Bad Astronomer

The Bad Astronomer — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 02:37:47 +0000

Ed is the winner!

The repair guy came today and poked around in the printer. He doesn’t know why they went in there, but they did appear to be building a colony. He cleaned it out (using an upside down air can!) and we’ll see if they stick around. We’re moving to a new office in a month, and I’d hate to bring them with us!

By: Ray Gray

Ray Gray — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 01:56:20 +0000

Well, I have heard of RED ants and BLACK ants

When they start marching out as Cyan Ants, Magenta Ants, Blue Ants and Yellow Ants you are REALLY in trouble.

By: Joshua

Joshua — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 01:37:48 +0000

If only they had giant printers back in the 1950s, “Them!” would have been a much shorter movie.