Ants

It's a quandary – leafcutter ants cause a great deal of damage to crops, but applying pesticides to those crops harms the environment. Scientists have developed a possible solution, in the form of a high-tech material that uses an odor to trap ants.

Ordinarily, when we hear about robots or other devices that are able to independently navigate outdoors, it's a given that they use GPS. French scientists have developed an alternative, however, in the form of a six-legged robot that navigates like an ant.

Mystrium camillae, a rare species of Dracula ant found in Southeast Asia and Australia, has now snapped up the crown for fastest animal movement on record, clicking its mandibles at blistering speeds that can stun prey.

​Ants have an incredible capacity to work together for the good of the clan, but a freshly discovered species shows just how far they are willing to go. Colobopsis explodens​ has been observed in the rainforests of southeast Asia making the ultimate sacrifice.

It’s one of nature’s most disturbing horror stories: a fungus takes control of a living ant to spread spores through the colony. But now a study led by Penn State University has found that the fungus makes these “zombie ants” without directly infecting the brains of its hosts.

A pair of independent studies from two teams used CRISPR technology​ to genetically alter ants to remove their ability to "smell," which resulted in their inability to interact with normal ants and produced changes in their brains.

Australian scientists believe they have found the answer to how blind termites avoid predatory ants – an ability to hear micro-vibrations produced by the their footprints. The trait might offer valuable lessons for counter-espionage and pest control. ​

Scientists have discovered that there is more than feeding at play when ants lock lips, with the insects also using it as an opportunity to pass on important chemical messages that shape the behavior of the colony's next generation.