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.

By Elie Dolgin February 18, 2026
But the rise of robots and AI may disrupt the sport’s ethos.
By Elie Dolgin January 29, 2026
As humans return to the Moon, researchers are trying to understand—and thwart—the biological toll of deep-space radiation.