Is traffic bugging you?
If so, check out the sidewalk. The solution to bottlenecks and reducing roadway accidents may be found at the nearest anthill, according to research from Australia.
Ajay Narendra of Australian National University says ants -- despite their tiny brains -- do a much better job than humans at finding their way around and engineering traffic flows.
"Ants are social animals and communicate effectively with each other," said Narendra, who has studied ant behavior for the past decade at the university and in collaboration with Australia's ARC Center of Excellence in Vision Science.
Different ant species use different abilities. These include good eyesight to make note of landmarks, the ability to measure distances and the use of scent signals, all of which help armies of ants navigate from nests to food stashes and back home over and over, according to Narendra, whose recent research has focused on bull ants of the Australian Capital Territory.
The high level of cooperation between ants "enables them to organize exploration, foraging and to manage forager lane traffic efficiently," he said. "If we can understand how they do this, we can probably apply the same principles to motor vehicles to make roads safer," he said.
Perhaps. But did you hear what the Volkswagen Beetle said to the Plymouth Road Runner when they came
across a colony of ants?
"Step on it."
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