Ant intelligence; chemical controls (Introduction)

by dhw, Saturday, January 02, 2016, 18:13 (3248 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: Individual ants can be re-programed by chemical epigenetic changes to change their role in the societal setup:

http://phys.org/news/2015-12-team-reprograms-social-behavior-carpenter.html-David's Comment: I suspect the colony automatically senses the need to change population dynamics and these chemical changes are also automatic at that point.

You can also change human physiology and character by injecting chemicals, but in nature there is nobody to inject the ants. They change themselves. Of course you suspect that ants do it automatically. You hate the very idea that small organisms might know what they're doing! I am going to set up a new foundation: ERFSO (Equal Rights For Small Organisms), and I cordially invite you to become my first subscriber.