Put a few thousand ants on to a pile of dirt and in a week they will have built a labyrinthine city inside it. If a flood hits the colony they can mesh their own bodies together into a raft the size of a dinner plate and ship themselves to safety. All done without blueprint or leader. How? Not because ants are smart. But because they know to follow simple rules. Three, to be exact. Read more here.
~ Emily Singer, The Remarkable Self Organization of Ants, Quanta Magazine
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What a fascinating article!
It really is Julie…
Three simple rules followed by a species that can make itself stronger than an Olympian in seconds should they need to. Really fascinating article..
It is Mimi. What a miracle all of this is…
The weave of the ant fabric is held together by multiple connections among individual ants, “What’s happening at the big scale is the result of lots of interactions at the small scale,” Hu said. – yes.
Smiling. Yes.
Do ya think we could learn something from this???
Your question froze me in my tracks Darlene. I just don’t know.
So cool. Great article.
It is Sandy, thank you.
Really interesting find of an article. We can learn a lot from watching patterns of any as well as people. The scientist doesn’t seem as optimistic about people’s capabilities versus ants. Isn’t he going out on a limb to suggest humans would have so much trouble dealing with a few lane changes in New Jersey?
Laughing. So true.
Ants rock! 🙂
Laughing. They do. And apparently float too!