Staying cool: Saharan silver ants' heat-deflecting adaptations

Staying cool: Saharan silver ants' heat-deflecting adaptations

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Researchers have discovered two strategies that enable Saharan silver ants to stay cool in one of the world's hottest environments. They are the first to demonstrate that the ants use a coat of uniquely shaped hairs to control electromagnetic waves over an extremely broad range from the solar spectrum to the thermal radiation spectrum and that different physical mechanisms are used in different spectral bands to realize the same biological function of reducing body temperature.