Cool operator: the Saharan silver ant Cataglyphis bombycina. (Courtesy: P Landmann) A species of desert-dwelling ant is able to tolerate temperatures exceeding 50 °C because its body hairs act like ...

Refraction close refractionProcess by which a wave changes speed and sometimes direction upon entering a denser or less dense medium, eg a light ray changes direction when refracted by a lens. from a ...

Total internal reflection–fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (TIR-FCS) is an emerging technique that is used to measure events at or near an interface, including local fluorophore concentrations, ...

The body hairs of the Saharan silver ant cause total internal reflection of light to make the ants almost ten times more reflective, preventing overheating and yielding their silver sheen, according ...

Silver hair is very cool right now, perhaps nowhere more so than in the desert habitats of silver ants. Researchers say the ants actually deflect heat with the super shiny silver hairs that cover ...