Deborah M. Gordon and her ants in the lab


Thousands of years ago, one of the authors of the Old Testament observed nature carefully enough to notice that ants keep busy without anyone telling them what to do. Modern biologists have long known the same thing ­ that ants, honeybees, termites and other social insects can marshal just the right number of forces to forage for food, repair the nest, care for eggs and battle off intruders, without any central or hierarchical control.

There’s no ant boss, termite overseer or bee middle manager shouting, “Hey you! The nest needs urgent repair, so stop collecting food!” says Deborah M. Gordon, assistant professor of biological sciences.

Ants Yield Clues (Plain text) SciMed News (Adobe Acrobat format - 127k)

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