Natures teams: see them in action live
Some of the principles of bioteaming are based on the organisation, communications and behavior of social insect societies. The BBC has a wonderful series Life in the Undergrowth narrated by David Attenborough with a whole programme dedicated to Supersocieties and Super-organisms which shows the warts as well as the wonders underneath the covers. You can see short video clips of all the best bits including Giant Asiatic honeybees and Mangrove ants.
The Programme Trailer says
It's easy to be dismissive of invertebrates because, being so small, they often pass us by unnoticed. But some invertebrates have overcome the limitation of their small size by banding together in huge numbers. Many of these societies are so fine-tuned in the way they operate it's as if they were a single being or, in the words of David Attenborough, a "super-organism". And by working together they can achieve great things. Take, for instance, African termite mounds that act as huge ventilation systems and are so sophisticated in their structure that we humans are only just unravelling how they work. But insect societies aren't all shining examples of co-operative Utopias. As a bumblebee colony reaches its maximum size towards the end of summer, conflict spreads among the female workers; eventually they turn on their mother - the queen - and sting her to death. The programme ends with two insect societies meeting head on as Matabele ants raid a nearby termite mound. The ensuing battle lasts just 15 minutes and ends with a most horrific scene of carnage
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Bioteams Books Reviews
Could cell phones destroy civilisation
"Cell", the new novel by horror writer Stephen King, paints an all too plausible scenario where our addiction to cell phones enables a malicious virus to be pulsed to every phone in the world turning all who take the call into a flock of murderously mad zombies.
Buy it now from:
Amazon.Com
Amazon.Co.UK
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