Moore's Ants

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."

Comments

Sooo...

[Theodore Logan]

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.

Spot the difference

[Trusty Penfold]

Moore I
Moore II

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

Slightly Odd

[certron]

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...

[GuyMannDude]

... 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

Re:Nice thought but...

[PEdelman]

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 link.

Re:Nice thought but...

[Mnemia]

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.

Re:Nice thought but...

[bytesmythe]

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.

Compost bin

[Kj0n]

Aren't those ants something to put into the compost bin?

Auction

[Speedy8]

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

[R.Caley]

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.

Sure, why not?

[serutan]

Guess I'm gonna name my next ant species Camponotus Debbiedoesdallas.