This procedure is done on empty ant hills.
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Do you know much about aesthetic theory? How carefully have you deconstructed this notion of “privilege”?
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Those poor ants! 
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This article talks about the advantages and disadvantages of each type of cast-- wax, zinc, aluminum, plaster. The design of a suitably portable kiln is discussed, as well as certain safety precautions-- pouring aluminum into wet soil may cause blowback.
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Welcome to the BBS. It’s smart of you to use your first post to deconstruct the values of Boing Boing, as extended participation in the BB system can lead to a certain loss of clarity and objectivity. Let the outsiders lead the way!
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Came for the hot molten action, stayed for the Serena Altschul. Some Kurt Loder would have worked too.
not necessarily. Often, wax is used in order to measure the demographics of a colony. Aluminum will destroy the specimens, while wax will preserve the dead ants in situ.
Of course, some of these casts are made for artistic purposes. A scientific aluminum mold aims to preserve every last centimeter of the ant colony, and soldering is used to make up for deficiencies in the casting process, Since aluminum is often difficult to solder, and the result is not necessarily pretty, I rather doubt that the ebay sellers go to these lengths–even through scientifically, the broken cast is incomplete.
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There are thorium bed designs with this in mind.
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Ants are a renewable resource.
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Prove it.
Try to get rid of them. That’s the proof.
That’s what I was thinking. If it stinks of privilege for a few entomologists and a small community of science-minded enthusiasts to kill a colony of pretty much the most numerous and fast-breeding metazoans there are, what do you call a doctor who prescribes antibiotics to a nude model with Chlamydia who can’t go into work until her infection clears up?
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Why?
Because they invaded the kitchen, for example? Or the area of the lawn where you like to sit and bask?
(Or, worse, because they are the crazy ones and invaded the main switchboard?)
There are areas where ants have their place. And there are areas where they don’t.
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So? You humans invaded our areas. 
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So we’re now in a trench war of mutual attrition.
I am a programmer. I know both how to deal with bugs and that there will always be more.
Edit: And when I die I want to be cremated to deny them the winning pleasure of eating me.
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I also find software bugs as a tester, but I collect them to get them fixed by others. 
BTW, ants will eat you before you die.
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Oh…that guy…I think…i don’t remember the name mentioned, but a GTF in a class I had as an undergrad mentioned having had a prof that did this - this was in the early 90’s so maybe it was him, or maybe this is a ‘thing’ with Bug Profs…anyway I learned a lot about ants – inspired by the story of the GTF. Cheers!
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I’m going to give a pass to a professor of entomology, that he is “mass killing” a hive for knowledge’s sake.
And if you’re hypersensitive to this, think about commercial exterminators. That’s all they do is go into homes and indiscriminately kill as many ants, bees, cockroaches, pillbugs, fleas, bedbugs as they can. What they collectively do in a day – in an hour – for filthy lucre, no less, makes anything this professor does pale in comparison.
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