this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2025
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[–] taiyang@lemmy.world 31 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Hmm, would this work with any clear material so you could see the ants as they suffer? I mean, for uhhh... science?

[–] chaogomu@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You'd pick up a lot of sand... Normally you'd use a metal like aluminum. You can sandblast that clean.

But clear means epoxy. That stuff doesn't hold up very well under sandblasting. It can be done, but expect mistakes.

[–] RheumatoidArthritis@mander.xyz 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

"Normally"!? I thought it was a one-time thing for that famous youtube video.

[–] chaogomu@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

There are thousands of ant hill sculptures in the world.

The two main ways of making them are either aluminum or some sort of concrete or plaster.

Aluminum is used more often, due to the ease of extraction from the ground, and the fact that you can clean it with a garden hose or pressure washer.

Cement or plaster are used when accuracy is desired, but those sculptures need to be removed from the ground with hand trowels and brushes, and will likely need individual parts to be reinforced or braced to prevent breakage.

Both methods can be used to study the structure of and ant hill. But aluminum far more common for the more artistic versions of the sculpture.

[–] village604@adultswim.fan 1 points 1 day ago

Aluminum is great because it has a relatively low melting point, and a casting furnace isn't all that expensive.

[–] blinfabian@feddit.nl -2 points 1 day ago (3 children)

you can never see them "suffer"

"Ants are not subjected to feeling the same pain humans do. They can recognize damage and respond to it, but they don't genuinely feel pain the same way people do"

[–] brisk@aussie.zone 4 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

We found “strong evidence” for pain experiences in adults of two orders, Diptera (flies and mosquitoes) and Blattodea (cockroaches and termites). There was also “substantial evidence” in adult Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, ants, and sawflies), Orthoptera (crickets and grasshoppers), and Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) [...]

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0065280622000170

[–] CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Couldn't you apply that logic to literally all animals including humans? Pain is just a sensation to make us respond to damage, the suffering part is entierly subjective and no one can be sure any of the other humans even are capable of it, we just assume its the case based on personal experience and empathy.

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 21 hours ago (1 children)
[–] blinfabian@feddit.nl 1 points 20 hours ago (1 children)
[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 5 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

When you quote things, provide attribution to what you are quoting. “Otherwise you just look insane.”

[–] blinfabian@feddit.nl 4 points 19 hours ago