+Allison Sekuler links to a fabulous TED talk worth sharing, reposting her whole quote below:

Ants as Complex Systems

I'm not sure if this (http://goo.gl/vCnAN) is the TED talk +Jennifer Townsend meant, but it is an interesting one for anyone interested in any type of complex systems (like the web, like the brain, etc.). Here Deborah Gordon asks what rules individuals use to produce different types of behaviours in the group as a whole.

h/t to +eddie k for the #ScienceEveryday shout-out_

Jennifer Townsend originally shared this post:

I watched an ant colony move into a potted plant this weekend. Fun times in Atlanta. It reminded me of a TED talk I'd watched a while back, and I have a few observations (and related photos):

0. Queens (there were 3 that I saw) were spaced 2 feet apart coming out of the ground. One of them kept laying eggs as she walked. Her retainers would pick them up as she moved. The queen behind her caught up.

1. Each queen had a group of ants that stayed with her. When she reached the vertical pot wall, more ants came to help: they pushed from below continually, and ants would come down, bite onto her, and give a short heave to pull her along. When they came to the overhang where the rim of the pot starts, the ants frenziedly dogpiled the queen, making a live net encasing her as she made the perilous few steps. Several of the ants in the net fell– though they seemed fine.

2. 90+% of the traffic was one way. The ants in the other direction ran through the line, running into as many fellow ants as possible. Feasibly they were checking to make sure everyone was indeed an ant from the colony. Or perhaps there was some other communication occurring. But, seeing as most of the ants were empty-jawed (I saw only egg cases being carried) the against-the-flow ants weren't needed for portaging– though maybe they had some specific task.

3. Food dropped in the path only distracted two seemingly eccentric ants, who bathed frantically in the sticky fruit juice near the apple. A non-predator (pill bug) didn't distract them at all, while a lady beetle got swarmed until it vacated the line sufficiently. A stick poked into the line was ignored. Unless it was poked in the vicinity of a queen. Then it was public enemy #1, and was adequately swarmed.