Who Needs Males? Not Self-Cloning Tropical Ants

More and more parents helping to foot the sizable bill

(NEWSER) - Some parents help pay for their kids' college tuition—others help foot the bill for freezing their daughters eggs? Apparently. The New York Times reports on what it paints as a growing trend: Would-be grandparents, worried about their daughter's advancing age and aware of the fact that the procedure can cost as much as $18,000, are getting involved. That means launching the conversation ("By the time Allison was 35, I felt the clock was tick-tick-ticking," says one 61-year-old who suggested the idea) and whipping out the credit card (said mother picked up half the tab when Allison took her up on it). More»

Sexual reproduction confers evolutionary benefits

(NEWSER) - Scientists have long theorized that sexual reproduction was better, evolutionarily speaking, than its asexual counterpart—and now they’ve got some evidence. Researchers in Britain found that sexually-reproducing worms were better at staying “one evolutionary step ahead” of parasites than asexual versions of the same worm, NPR reports. That sheds light on “one of the long-standing mysteries in evolutionary biology, one that we've been banging our heads against for 30 years,” says a researcher. More»

Biggest-ever US ant fossil unearthed in ancient lake sediments in Wyoming

(NEWSER) - The fossil of an ant queen the size of a hummingbird has been found in lake sediments in Wyoming. The 2-inch-long ant is the biggest ever found in the US, and the newly identified species is one of the largest to have ever lived, reports LiveScience . Researchers say the "monstrously big ant" lived around 50 million years ago, when Wyoming was a lot warmer. The only ant species of the same size that's still around today lives only in central Africa. More»

Take your pick: Bob Marley, Clint Eastwood, Jack Nicholson all qualify

(NEWSER) - Times change but one thing remains constant—successful men find success with the ladies. But success at birth control? Not so much. So the Daily Beast put together an overview of some of the most notable celebrity super-spawners. Here's a list of the father(s) of all baby mamas:

• Jack Nicholson, with 4 children by 3 women
• Lil Wayne, with 4 children by 4 women
• Clint Eastwood, with 7 children by 5 women

Fungus takes over brain, forces ants to relocate

(NEWSER) - First, the fungus takes over the ant’s brain. Then, it uses “mind control” to force the ant to move to a new location—an ideal location where the fungus can grow and its spores can spread. Finally, the fungus kills the ant—and then grows out of its head. Sounds like something out of a sci-fi Movie of the Week, but it’s real, scientists report in a new study. Researchers found four species of fungus that do just that in a Brazilian rain forest. National Geographic has pictures. More»