The pieces are made using .223 caliber bullet shell casings, decorated with cuts, slashes, curls and bends. The light side pieces are set on red oak mounts, using steel cased shells and the dark side pieces are mounted on black walnut, using brass cased shells.
"They'll gather up all the eggs in the colony and will make their way up through the underground network of tunnels, and when the flood waters rise above the ground, they'll link up together in these massive rafts," Mlot said. Together with Georgia Tech systems-engineering professor Craig Tovey, the scientists collected fire ants and dunked clumps of them in water to see what would happen.
In less than two minutes the ants had linked "hands" to form a floating structure that kept all the insects safe. Even the ants down below can survive this way, thanks to tiny hairs on the ants' bodies that trap a thin layer of air.
"Even when they're on the bottom of the raft, they never technically become submerged," Mlot said.
And obviously this will make no sense if you understand French. If you do know it, hit yourself in the head repeatedly before watching this. And then hit yourself repeatedly when you're done watching.
The Slingshot Channel took the challenge to design a rubber powered version of Mr. Gatling's great invention. And here it is: Eight 20 mm balls, on their way to the target in less than half a second. The theoretical firing rate is 960 rounds per minute, slightly faster than the popular M16 assault rifle.
