ANTS from Central America are helping engineering design to lose its
reputation as a black art. French researchers say the ability of
Pachycondyla apicalis ants to hunt in parallel could dramatically improve
the way computers search for the solutions to complex problems such as aircraft
and turbine design.
Unlike most ants, P. apicalis forages by dispatching lone hunters to
scour an area and report back to the colony. By using random patterns and
concentrating on areas near the nest which have previously proved fruitful, the
colony can carry out a large number of searches simultaneously, making it a
highly effective…
