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The South American rainforest is home to two titans. Leafcutter ants are sedentary farmers responsible for processing appreciable biomasses of tropical vegetation. They use their foraging material to cultivate obligate, fungal mutualists protected within their subterranean fortresses. Army ants are nomadic hunting machines that march in fanning swarms of thousands of individuals. They flush out and overwhelm kilograms of prey every day with their numbers, mandibles, and venomous stings. Whil ...
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We talk about frogs that chirp like crickets and ants whose best buddies are caterpillars, but more than anything my story is heavy here. Upheaval and change consist and comprise life. In this episode, we take a turn, but every good tale is full of twists and turns. Enjoy!By Tristan Darwin Kubik
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This week we roar back into production and learn about the emerging field of war ecology, some cool things about the chemistry and weaponry of ants, and get to hear some updates about what all I have been up to while away from the podcast.By Tristan Darwin Kubik
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Greetings everyone, join me this week for some insect locomotion and the importance of adventures! I also share one of my creative writings, a link to which can be found below. Thanks for listening and, as always, stay curious!"I wasn't always me...": https://medium.com/@T_Kubed/i-wasnt-always-me-92727165695 Question, comment, concern? Email me at …
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Greetings everyone! This week's episode is shorter than usual. Some of you may already know that I released a special episode already this week honoring my best friend. At any rate, this week's episode juxtaposes advanced computing technologies with a little bit of deep introspection. Let the humanities shine I say. Please enjoy and thanks for list…
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He was always there for me, always ready to help me out of a bind, give me a ride, join me on a daring adventure, save me from my own foolishness, expose me to new and beautiful things... His death has opened a tremendous void in the lives of all who knew him. But, we are humans and this tragic event has presented us with an opportunity to fill tha…
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Join me this week for a love story, a foray into how fungus, bacteria, and viruses enchant our lives with their decomposing superpowers! Also, check out this neat article about animal drunkards! If you have questions, comments, or input for the show please email me at tristan.kubik@utexas.edu and include "cotmquestion" as the subject of your email.…
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Greetings everyone! We'll be diving into some myths, folktales, and poems about ants as well as looking at some of the day-today operations of how an ant colony works. We also have a brief treatise on teaching at the end and finally we have our Chapter 1 of the story we started in the first episode! Check below for some useful links!Hopi Ant People…
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Welcome back everyone to Clash of the Myrmidons. In this week's episode we finally make down to Austin, TX, I beat my belongings, get a new office, and we play around with the genetic and mathematical underpinnings of haplo-diploidy and colony founding. I hope you enjoy this week's episode and, as always, stay curious!You can find me at tristan.kub…
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Greetings everyone. This week we're diving right into the beginnings of ant warfare with a look at a great battle documented by Henry David Thoreau. We will then explore the complex interactions of two opposing armies via Frederick Lanchester's Laws of Combat. Finally, we'll see how Lanchester's Laws can be applied to ants with the help of two publ…
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Welcome to Clash of the Myrmidons. Wondering if this is a podcast you could get behind? Give it a test drive with the first episode where I will introduce myself, the podcast, and the story we will be following over the next few weeks!By Tristan Darwin Kubik
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