Termites became social powerhouses by stripping away genes tied to competition and independence. This genetic shedding locked in monogamy, boosted cooperation, and paved the way for their ...

Termites did not evolve complex societies by adding new genetic features. Instead, scientists found that they became more ...

A soldier termite can tell which way to run in a crisis by sensing SOS-message time delays — only hundredths of a human eyeblink long — with its feet. Africa’s Macrotermes natalensis termite relies on ...

Among the approximately 2,000 known species of termites, some are ecosystem engineers. The mounds built by some genera, for example Amitermes, Macrotermes, Nasutitermes, and Odontotermes, reach up to ...

Melissa Breyer was Treehugger’s senior editorial director before moving to Martha Stewart. Her writing and photography have been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, National Geographic, ...

Questions: Termite mounds of the genus Macrotermes are prominent features in African savannas, forming nutrient hotspots that support greater plant diversity, which is of higher nutritional value than ...

Humans have used drumming to relay messages across large distances for millennia – but they aren’t alone in this. It seems some species of termite do the same, by bashing their heads on the ground to ...

Tracing the emergence of termites back to cockroaches, scientists have found that termites didn’t become more socially complex by gaining new genes, but by losing them. The findings shed new light on ...