Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution => Topic started by: Reenen on 29/05/2013 09:04:04
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Yesterday evening I got this on my USB hub... why would they choose the USB hub, and what is the white stuff? (I am assuming eggs)
Should I be concerned?
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Yesterday evening I got this on my USB hub... why would they choose the USB hub
Hive brain (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_mind_%28science_fiction%29) in action ...
An example of such an emergent property is colony-level decision making exhibited by ants during house hunting. The scout ants visit potential house sites. They collect information about the site, including the size of the cavity, the width of the entrance and the darkness. If a scout ant evaluates the house to be appropriate, it starts teaching other ants the way to the new house, so they can also evaluate it. This is done by secretion of chemicals called pheromones along the path to the house. The other ants can smell these chemicals, which allow them to trace the correct way. This behaviour is known as tandem running, and enables other ants to visit the site and decide for themselves whether they think it is a good site or not. If a nest is of good quality, a scout will wait less time before recruiting others to it, whereas if it is of poor quality they will wait a lot longer. This period of waiting is the latency period.
When enough ants are present in the new nest a quorum is reached, and the whole colony makes a decision to move. This is a rapid move whereby ants start carrying other ants on their backs to speed up the process. The quorum threshold depends on individual situations. In times of danger speed is more important than accuracy so the quorum threshold decreases drastically (less ants have to be present in the nest in order for a decision to be reached), whereas when the colony is safe the quorum threshold rises so a more accurate decision can be made.
http://synapsebristol.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/ants-bees-and-brains_1.html
... Should I be concerned?
You may have computer bugs* [:0]
They prefer darkness, maybe a fishtank computer mod (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_modding) [:)] ...
(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fabsolutesynergysquad.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F05%2F242613_2.png&hash=b03f74b9847af7d4e0024b818932a3c8)
http://absolutesynergysquad.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/242613_2.png
[ * OK ants are not true bugs (http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_bug) ]
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No doubt, if they are on the outside of the device, they would also be on the inside of the device. I'm surprised you're seeing so many eggs on the outside. Unless this is "staged".
Perhaps they like the warmth of a computer device, although I would think a USB hub would be relatively close to ambient temperature. Periodically I find moths and other critters on the ceiling, directly over above my computer, as it may be one of the warmer places in the house.
You should find several types of ant bait. I find that if one puts one of the bait houses directly in one of the paths where you see ants walking, then they quickly just disappear.