Underbug: An Obsessive Tale of Termites and Technology
3.5/5
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Currently unavailable
About this ebook
Who has the answer to the world’s fuel problems? How can we bring ruined land back to life? Where do roboticists turn when they try to engineer a hive mind?
Termites.
Strange though it may seem, scientists are looking to these much-reviled insects as little guides to the biggest of ideas. Lisa Margonelli follows them to find out how termites could change the world.
A masterpiece of popular science, Underbug touches on everything from metaphysical meditation, technological innovation and the psychology of obsession to good old-fashioned biology.
Lisa Margonelli
Lisa Margonelli is the author of the national bestseller Oil on the Brain: Petroleum’s Long, Strange Trip to Your Tank and writes the Small Science column for Zócalo Public Square, where she is a senior editor. From 2006 to 2012, she was a fellow at the New America Foundation. She has written for The Atlantic, Wired, Scientific American, The New York Times, and other publications. She lives in Maine.
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Reviews for Underbug
11 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Meticulously researched and annotated exploration of termites, those who study them from various standpoints such as biological understanding, use in bioengineering (grassoline), use in robotics (eg. swarming military drones); engagingly written with wry, philosophical, psychological asides concerning science, scientists and the conundrums of complexity.