Entomologists use a particle accelerator to image ants at scale
Elie Dolgin • March 5, 2026
The detailed scans could inspire robots and biomechanical designs.
Move over, Pixar. The ants that animators once morphed into googly-eyed caricatures in films such as A Bug’s Life and Antz just received a meticulously precise anatomical reboot.
Writing today in Nature Methods, an international team of entomologists, accelerator physicists, computer scientists, and biological-imaging specialists describe a new 3D atlas of ant morphology.
Continue reading at IEEE Spectrum.
A shadow-sensing skill known as skototaxis helps cicadas find trees to molt on.
In a small trial, the simulation pinpoints the source of faulty beats and speeds procedure time.