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Science

Moore's Ants 19

Posted by timothy from the their-density-will-double-every-18-months dept.
Makarand writes "We all know Moore's Law that predicts the future power of computer chips. He now has an ant named after him. A Harvard biologist named several species of ants that he recently found after people who have supported conservation. One species got Gordon Moore's name."
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Moore's Ants More

Moore's Ants

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  • I'd have nominated fire ants based on how quickly thier mounds take over a yard.

  • Sooo... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Theodore Logan ( 139352 ) on Saturday November 09, 2002 @03:24PM (#4633362)
    In twenty years they will be about 4000 times as powerful as today? Ants can already lift 20 times their own bodyweight, so this is gonna get nasty. I don't know about you, but I welcome our new Insect Overlords!

    ... because realizing that Moores law applies to ant strength was the reason they named it after him, right? Right?

    Now let's just hope nobody reads the article as usual.

    • Re:Sooo... QWZX (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Just for record, because it's a classic line from The Simpsons:

      Kent Brockman: Ladies and Gentlemen, we have just lost the picture. But what we've seen speaks for itself. The Corvair spacecraft has apparently been taken over, conquered if you will, by a master race of giant space ants. It's difficult to tell from this vantage point whether they will consume the captive earth men or merely enslave them. One thing is for certain, there is no stopping them the ants will soon be here. And I for one welcome our new insect overlords. Would like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality I could be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar cave.

    • Man I'm gonna have to start carrying a gun if ants are getting that powerful. The way I see it, we gotta stop them before they get us. :D
  • Moore I [carleton.edu]
    Moore II [bbc.co.uk]

    (Yes, I know the ant isn't Pheidole Moorium, but it is a Pheidole)

  • Slightly Odd (Score:2, Funny)

    by certron ( 57841 )
    The quote at the bottom of the page was this:

    The sooner all the animals are extinct, the sooner we'll find their money. - Ed Bluestone

    So much for conservation. :-)

    Somehow I don't think we'll get a species named after Slashdot, even though the swarming behaviours are quite similar to a site being hammered until it goes down. :-D

  • Nice thought but... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by GuyMannDude ( 574364 ) on Saturday November 09, 2002 @04:43PM (#4633777) Journal

    ... call me old fashioned but I remembered when the names of species actually meant something (e.g., the Latin word for some unique descriptor of the creature). I guess scientists are free to name new species whatever the hell they want, huh? Are they allowed to name species after their spouses? Pets? Favorite movies? And exactly how much does it cost to "buy" a species name anyhow? Can you get an entire genus named after you if you give enough money to conservation organisations?

    GMD

    • I'd rather call you old ;-) AFAIK taxonomic names have, except for in the very early days, been arbritarliy chosen. Especially if genera consist of many species it can be very hard to come up with a useful and descriptive name.

      For taxonomic curiosities, see this [earthlink.net] link.

    • Well, considering that there are hundreds of thousands of known species of things like ants, it might not always be easy to come up with descriptive names for them all. I think this is perfectly acceptable and actually pretty cool as a way to recognize people who have tried to help conservation.
    • Guess I'm gonna name my next ant species Camponotus Debbiedoesdallas.
    • Just for the record, there is a species of owl louse named Strigiphilus garylarsoni named after the "Far Side" cartoonist, Gary Larson.

      For lots more, check out the Curiosities of Biological Nomenclature [earthlink.net].

  • Aren't those ants something to put into the compost bin [slashdot.org]?

  • Auction (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Speedy8 ( 594486 ) on Sunday November 10, 2002 @03:00AM (#4635990) Journal
    People should auction off the right to the name for plants and animamls to raise money for their protection and advancement. It would kinda make you feel immortal to have an entire speciese named after you... or at least make you want to spend money to protect it.

    • Re:Auction (Score:3, Funny)

      by R.Caley ( 126968 )
      People should auction off the right to the name for plants and animamls[...]want to spend money to protect it.

      Tie IPR to endangered species. You get to keep your patent/trademark/copyright as long as a totem species survives. The more valuable the IPR, the more species an/or the harder to keep alive the species.

      Sorry Bill, the lesser fringed marshmallow newt is extinct, looks like the NT kernel is now public domain.

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