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> November 12, 1999:
Hour Two: Leonid Meteor Shower / Deborah Gordon on Ants
| Make plans to get to somewhere dark and look to the skies next week - the Leonid meteor shower is coming! Unfortunately for most listeners, the best viewing may be in western Asia, Europe and Africa -- but that doesn't mean that folks in the U.S. won't see any meteors. Take a look anyway - peak viewing time has been estimated to be on November 18 - but there's no guarantee those estimates will be correct. | 
A 1998 Leonid explodes.
ROTSE team image. | Simple stargazing isn't the only reason to be excited by the Leonids, which are caused by the fragmented remains of Comet Temple-Tuttle. A lot of researchers are planning to look to the skies in the hopes that the meteor shower will give insights into astrochemistry, the makeup of distant planets - even the possibility of life in space. We'll find out more.
We'll also take look into the inner workings of ant colonies. Glancing at an ant colony, you might be reminded of a busy city subway station. Individuals dash this way and that, often with no easily observable goal. But once you look more closely, there is organization to all the scurrying. In the ant world, ants take on various jobs - forager, guard, nurse, and others -- all serving the queen and mother of the colony.
But how does a growing, changing colony adapt to keep functioning properly as it grows? How are the ants organized? Who gets to do what? And is the social structure among the workers fixed, or does it change in response to conditions in the nest? We'll talk about how researchers are trying to find answers to those questions, and others - on this hour of Science Friday.
Guests:
John Horack
Astronomer
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center
Huntsville, Alabama
Deborah Gordon
Professor, Biology
Author, "Ants at Work: How an Insect Society is Organized"
Stanford University
Stanford, California
Books/Articles Discussed:
Related Links:
- Best view of the Leonid shower: '99 Leonid MAC Homepage
International Meteor Organization
Understanding the Leonid Meteor Storms
Leonid Storm
Leonids Live! -
- Myrmecology - The Scientific Study Of Ants.
Science Friday August 6, 1999, Hour 1: Fire Ants!
Discovery Online: The Ultimate Guide: Ants (includes an Ant Cam!) This segment produced by:
Annette Heist
Web producer:
Charles Bergquist
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