I would imagine for any significantly sized colony, molten metal would cool down and solidify too fast to cover everywhere; whereas concrete can stay liquid long enough to permeate everywhere.
The moisture would get sucked out of the concrete by the earth, and it’s not flowable that well. If you’ve made it like soup, it’s lost most of its strength when it cures already.
A 1/2 hole in plywood gets filled by grout pretty fast, a dirt ant tunnel I would be surprised if it went more than a foot to be honest.
It seems implausible to me, too (as an engineer), but the article says what it says. I guess they must be using tiny paint brushes like an archeological dig in order to excavate it without destroying it.
Not always.
I would imagine for any significantly sized colony, molten metal would cool down and solidify too fast to cover everywhere; whereas concrete can stay liquid long enough to permeate everywhere.
The moisture would get sucked out of the concrete by the earth, and it’s not flowable that well. If you’ve made it like soup, it’s lost most of its strength when it cures already.
A 1/2 hole in plywood gets filled by grout pretty fast, a dirt ant tunnel I would be surprised if it went more than a foot to be honest.
It seems implausible to me, too (as an engineer), but the article says what it says. I guess they must be using tiny paint brushes like an archeological dig in order to excavate it without destroying it.