Muse 2020-07-08

July/August 2020 Volume 24 Number 06 cricketmedia.com $6.95

To be
a naturalist
is a lifelong
calling.

JULY/AUGUST 2020

ANTSInspired by

E.O. Wilson’s transformative love of living things

muse® 38

Ants in Action

A world behind glass

by Kathiann M. Kowalski

FEATURES 14 26 40

10 Boy Naturalist Alabama Wilson and Paradise Lost
the Zombies of the
Friend and Fellow The true tale of a Exploring New Zealand’s
Ant Man young scientist Crawling Brain unique ecology

Meet biology pioneer by Stephen James O’Meara A story in three acts by Stephen James O’Meara
Edward O. Wilson
by Mary Beth Cox
by Bert Hölldobler

EDPEAPRATRMTMENETNSTS JULY/AUGUST 2020

2 Parallel U: Volume 24, Issue 06

Recovery Code DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL James M. “Wee” O’Connor
EDITOR Johanna “Pocket-Size” Arnone
by Caanan Grall Kathryn “Miniscule” Hulick
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Tracy “Teeny” Vonder Brink
7 Muse News CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Emily “Minikin” Cambias
Stacey “Slight” Lane Smith
by Elizabeth Preston ASSISTANT EDITOR Nicole “Itsy-Bitsy” Welch
ASSISTANT EDITOR Morgan “Chibi” Atkins
18 Science@Work: Caanan “Lilliputian” Grall
ART DIRECTOR David “Diminutive” Stockdale
E.O. Wilson DESIGNER

by Elizabeth Lindstrom CARTOONIST
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
30 Photo Op:
CATE BOARD OF ADVISORS
Ants Rule!
PORTER-PINE ONTARIO INSTITUTE FOR STUDIES IN EDUCATION,
by Sara van Dyck UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
UNUSUAL ABILITY Time Carl Bereiter
34 Science@Work: travel
HEIGHT 5'5" ORIENTAL INSTITUTE, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Magdalena Sorger AGE 14 John A. Brinkman
BORN Mexico City . . .
by Emily Cambias in the future NATIONAL CREATIVITY NETWORK
INTERESTS Quantum Dennis W. Cheek
45 Do the Math: mechanics, spending time
with friends COOPERATIVE CHILDREN’S BOOK CENTER, A LIBRARY
Shaping Dice ONCE SAID “To when do you OF THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF
need me to go?” WISCONSIN–MADISON
by Ivars Peterson K. T. Horning

47 Your Tech FREUDENTHAL INSTITUTE
Jan de Lange
by Kathryn Hulick
FERMILAB
48 Last Slice Leon Lederman

by Nancy Kangas UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Sheilagh C. Ogilvie
YOUR TURN
WILLIAMS COLLEGE
4 Muse Mail Jay M. Pasachoff
23 Hands-on: The World
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
in a Tree Trunk Paul Sereno

24 Art Space: One MUSE magazine (ISSN 1090-0381) is published 9 times a year, monthly except for combined May/June,
July/August, and November/December issues, by Cricket Media, 70 East Lake Street, Suite 800, Chica-
Sweet Experiment go, IL 60601. Additional Editorial Office located at 7926 Jones Branch Dr, Ste 870 McLean, VA 22102. Pe-
riodicals postage paid at McLean, VA, and at additional mailing offices. One-year subscription (9 is-
by Nic McDougal sues) $33.95. Canadian and other foreign subscribers must add $15.00 per year and prepay in U.S.
dollars. GST Registration Number 128950334. For address changes, back issues, subscriptions, cus-
29 Q&A tomer service, or to renew, please visit shop.cricketmedia.com, email cricketmedia@cdsfulfillment.
com, write to MUSE at Cricket Media, PO Box 6395, Harlan, IA 51593, or call 1-800-821-0115. Postmaster:
by Lizzie Wade Please send address changes to MUSE, Cricket Media, PO Box 6395, Harlan, IA 51593.

34 Hands-on: Editorial office, 70 E. Lake Street, Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60601. July/August 2020, Volume 24, Number 06,
© 2020, Cricket Media, Inc. All rights reserved, including right of reproduction in whole or in part, in
Ant Maze any form. For information regarding our privacy policy and compliance with the Children’s Online
Privacy Protection Act, please visit our website at cricketmedia.com or write to us at CMG COPPA, 70
by Clifford A. Pickover East Lake Street, Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60601.

46 Contest: A “Q&A,” text © by Elizabeth Wade; “Do the Math: Shaping Dice,” text © 2015 by Ivars Peterson.

Living Square Back cover illustration by Brad Walker.

Photo credits: C - Yeung Man Chun/Shutterstock.com; TOC - Irina Kozorog/Shutterstock.com; 3 (LT)
evrymmnt/Shutterstock.com, (RT) BUTENKOV ALEKSEI/Shutterstock.com; 4 (RC) cpaulfell/Shutterstock.
com; 6 (bkg) Mim Friday / Alamy Stock Photo; 7 (RC) Eric Isselee/Shutterstock.com, (LT) critterbiz/
Shutterstock.com, (RB) Nature Picture Library / Alamy Stock Photo, (RB-2) Kapitosh/Shutterstock.
com; 8 (TC) Brian Parker / Alamy Stock Photo, (RC) Anna.zabella/Shutterstock.com, (LB) Ray Lee;
10-13 (bkg) twister025/Shutterstock.com; 11 (TC) Joanne Rathe/The Boston Globe via Getty Images;
12-13 designer_an/Shutterstock.com, Inspiring/Shutterstock.com; 13 (RC) Motimo/Shutterstock.
com; 14-15 (bkg) Potapov Alexander/Shutterstock.com; 16-17 (bkg) Ton Weerayut Photographer/
Shutterstock.com; 15 (bkg) handy/Shutterstock.com; 16 (LT) Laurel A Egan/Shutterstock.com, (RT)
Colin D. Young/Shutterstock.com, (CC) Mark William Penny/Shutterstock.com, (RC) Michele and Tom
Grimm / Alamy Stock Photo; 17 (LT) Harvard University File Photo, (LC) DavidNNP/Shutterstock.com;
18 - Frans Lanting Studio / Alamy Stock Photo; 19-22 (bkg) asharkyu/Shutterstock.com; 19 (LT) Library
Book Collection / Alamy Stock Photo, (RB) bamgraphy/Shutterstock.com; 20 (TC) frank60/Shutterstock.
com; 21 (RB) 1000 Words/Shutterstock.com; 22 (LC) Mark Moffett/ Minden Pictures/Newscom; 23 (LC)
Meryll/Shutterstock.com, (RB) Elizaveta Krylova/Shutterstock.com, (RB-2) Sasha_Ivv/Shutterstock.com;
29 (TC) Sarunyu L/Shutterstock.com; 30 (LT), (LC) Vladimir Wrangel/Shutterstock.com, (RT) maxontravel/
Shutterstock.com; 31 (TC) Bryan Reynolds / Alamy Stock Photo, (LB) Dorling Kindersley ltd / Alamy Stock
Photo, (RC) Bazzano Photography / Alamy Stock Photo; 32 (LT), (RT) Nature Picture Library / Alamy Stock
Photo, (LC) MR.AUKID PHUMSIRICHAT/Shutterstock.com, (RC) Grant Heilman Photography / Alamy
Stock Photo; 34 (TC), (RB), 36 (RT) D. Magdalena Sorger; 35 (RC) zaidi razak/Shutterstock.com; 35-37
(bkg) Yakcuteboy/Shutterstock.com; 37 (RT) Kevin Wells Photography/Shutterstock.com; 38 (TC) dpa
picture alliance / Alamy Stock Photo; 39 (TC) Sean Pavone / Alamy Stock Photo, (CC) B Christopher /
Alamy Stock Photo, (BC) hans.slegers/Shutterstock.com, (bkg) sumroeng chinnapan/Shutterstock.com,
(LC) Fotofermer/Shutterstock.com; 40-41 Anupam hatui/Shutterstock.
com, GarryKillian/Shutterstock.com; 42 (BC) Florilegius / Alamy
Stock Photo, (RC) Kambiz Pourghanad/Shutterstock.com, (RB)
Alizada Studios/Shutterstock.com; 43 (TC) Blue Planet Studio/
Shutterstock.com, (BC) Dmitry Naumov/Shutterstock.com;
44 (LT) ChameleonsEye/Shutterstock.com, (RT) Solnechnaja/
Shutterstock.com; 45 (all) Courtesy of Robert Fathauer,
Dice Labs; 47 (BC) Arizzona Design/Shutterstock.com.

Printed in the United States of America.

1st printing Quad Sussex, Wisconsin June 2020

From time to time, MUSE mails to its subscribers
advertisements for other Cricket Media products or makes
its subscriber list available to other reputable companies for their
offering of products and services. If you prefer not to receive such mail,
write to us at MUSE, PO Box 6395, Harlan, IA 51593-1895.

PARALLEL U CAANAN GRALL

2

3

Muse Mail genetics in your magazine. If
you don’t publish this letter,
I will send an angry horde of
annoying owlets to HQ. If you
DO publish this letter, I’ll send
you . . . A TEST TUBE! Isn’t that
the best gift a human would
want? Now, I’d better go. I need
to attend a meeting back at
Owland. I guess I’d better fly.
Looking forward to another
amazing magazine!

—OWLY / age 11 / The Great City of

Owland

_________________

LETTER art by Liliana
of the

MONTH

My name’s Liliana. I have been receiving Muse since 2017. As an Numismania!
add on to Sam R.’s letter on origami in the March 2019 issue: if
you do make an issue on origami, can you tell us who made the I like your magazines. I
smallest/fastest folded origami ever made? This is a photo of the have been getting them since
smallest and second-smallest origami dragon I ever made. The February of last year. I am 12
purple dragon is only 1/4 inch tall and 1/2 inch from tail to front! and I live in Connecticut. I
have an issue request. So lately
—LILIANA B. (A.K.A. ORIGAMI GIRL TO FRIENDS) I have been interested in rare
coins. A few weeks ago, I went
P.S. I’m not going to threaten you guys like almost everyone through my really, really big
else does. So I understand if this goes to the OFMP (Online Fan coin jar looking for any rare
Mail Pit). Also, what does Muse stand for? I have More Universe coins. I didn’t think I would
Science Episode (or Extraordinaire). find any. While I was searching
I found a 1942 copper wheat
How did you make such tiny folds?! All I can make is an origami backed wartime penny. They
penguin—I’ve got a lot to learn. I don’t think the letters of Muse are called wartime pennies
stand for anything, but it would be fun if they did! I like Most because they were made during
Unusual Sock (Evidently). World War II. I found a 1939 (I
think) copper wartime penny. I
—WHATSI have a 1912 penny. Back before
1992 there were errors called
_________________ “close AM’” pennies. The A and
the M weren’t supposed to be
The Science of Being an Owl touching but some were. After
1992 they changed the design
Greetings from Owland! I, the ruler of all owls, simply just LOVE your to a close AM. So now wide AM
magazine! I’m new to Muse, but every month, I look forward to getting the
latest issue in the mail. Your magazine is so informational! It has all the
important stuff in it. Thank you Papa G’ho from the April 2019 edition! Please
consider the suggestion of making a genetic/DNA issue, because in Owland,
there’s not much information on that topic for kids like me. I, being a science
owl, would very much enjoy having an article or two about the science of

4

CONTEST SPOTLIGHT

pennies are rare. I don’t want to —SYLVIA B. / age 9 / Connecticut
go too far into detail. Please make
an issue on rare coins. I don’t do —NORA I. / age 11 / Illinois Something to say?
those threat things that I see other Send letters to Muse Mail,
people doing. Thanks. 70 E. Lake St., Suite 800,

—PEDRO A. Chicago, IL 60601,
or email them to
Thanks Pedro, old coins are so [email protected].
cool! Did you know that the
oldest coins are from 2,600
years ago? They’re called
“Lydian lions.”

—O

_________________

Positively Medieval

I am Lexi, and I have used my
power of ADHD and time travel
to go back to the medieval
times! Could you please . . .
A. Make a time machine (I will
send instructions)
B. Create a Muse issue on
medieval times
C. Send it back
D. Let me read it and conquer
medieval times!
It would be helpful and I would
be the first 10-year-old time
traveler to meet kings in the
medieval times!
Thanks in advance.

—LEXI H.

P.S. If you put this in the FMP,
I will send cute little HBPs in
medieval armor with cute tiny
swords to recruit your HBPs then
destroy Muse, go back in time, and
do it AGAIN until you give up! In
medieval times, I am an evil witch!

P.P.S. Cate, you might need to
help Muse. People like you and me
don’t make sense to them. Also, can
we have a play date in the Jurassic
Period? Please?

A fellow time traveler! You’ve
chosen a pretty wild time
to visit. Say hello to my
friend Richard while
you’re there.

—CATE

5

Muse News BY ELIZABETH PRESTON

text © 2020 by Elizabeth PrestonSUPERBUGS

Insect Inspiration

Maybe you know that some people play
Minecraft as Ant-Man. Maybe you’re
aware that the first Ant-Man, Hank
Pym, was an original member of the
Avengers. But did you know that the
Marvel hero’s power was inspired by a
real insect species?
Native to a remote volcanic island in the South
Atlantic Ocean, compression ants have an unusual
talent. When they sense a threat (such as a predator’s
scent or a whiff of volcanic ash), these brown ants
squeeze their exoskeletons tight. This shrinks each ant
to about two-thirds its former size, making it tougher
and safer.
Even at their smaller stature, compression ants can
carry 11 times their body weight. Now who’s super?

One of
these stories is
FALSE. Can you
spot which one?
The answer is on

page 46.

6

EVOLUTION

Wolf Puppies Can
Play Fetch

TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO, SOME
ANCIENT WOLVES STARTED HANGING OUT
WITH HUMANS. We fed and took care of these
wolves. We probably preferred the most friendly
and helpful ones. Over time, these wolves evolved
into today’s dogs. Scientists are still trying to learn
the details of how this change happened—and now
they have a new clue from wolf puppies that can
fetch a ball.

Researchers studied 13 wolf puppies that were
being raised by humans. When the puppies were 8
weeks old, they each went into an empty room with
a person they’d never met before. The person tossed
a tennis ball, then encouraged the puppy to bring
it back. Three of the puppies fetched the ball at
least twice.

This is a hint that
some ancient wolves
naturally enjoyed playing
with humans. By
choosing wolves like
these as their pets, our
human ancestors may
have helped breed the
dogs we know today.

CREEPY CRAWLIES

Australian Ants Drink Pee
to Survive

ONE AUSTRALIAN BUG SPECIES is called the brown-bearded sugar ant.
But sugar, it turns out, isn’t the ant’s favorite food. It prefers pee.

Researchers tested the ant’s likes and dislikes by pouring liquids onto the
sandy soil of Kangaroo Island, Australia. They tried sugary water. They also
poured out puddles of human and kangaroo urine. And they tested different
amounts of urea—a chemical ingredient of urine—dissolved in water.

The sugar ants came at night to taste what scientists had left. They
preferred the pee and urea patches to the sugar water. In fact, the more
urea there was in the sand, the more ants gathered there. Ants
even returned to the same dried-up patches for more than
four weeks. Researchers think mining tiny bits of urea
from the sand helps these ants survive in a tough environment.

7

Muse News

KNOT A BAD TRICK

How Slime Eels Tie Themselves in Knots

HAGFISH, ALSO CALLED SLIME EELS, are weird ocean creatures with snake-shaped bodies. When a
predator grabs a hagfish, the animal fights back by releasing huge amounts of slime. And these flexible fish
can literally tie themselves in knots. They may do this to get a better grip on their food, squeeze out of a tight
spot, or scrape slime off their own bodies.

But there are many kinds of knots (as you may have observed while untangling your headphones).
Researchers wanted to know exactly what kinds of knots hagfish tie. First, they built a hagfish trap out of a
short piece of pipe and the cut-off neck of a balloon. In a tank of water, they gently squeezed hagfish into the
trap headfirst, then videotaped the fish working to escape.

The hagfish tied lots and lots of knots. They occasionally made complicated shapes, like a figure eight. But
they most often made a simple overhand knot by forming a loop with their body, then sticking the end of their
tail through the loop.

TECH DESK

An MRI Machine
Built for Two

A TOOL called functional magnetic resonance imaging,
or fMRI, lets scientists see real-time activity in someone’s
brain. The person has to lie still inside a narrow tube
during the scan. Now researchers are developing
machines that can scan two people’s brains at once, to
study our brains while we interact. (Since the two people
have to squeeze very close in the machine, though, it
might be best for studying awkward cuddles.)

8

ARCHAEOLOGY That’s the news!
Go to page 46 to
Prehistoric see if you spotted
Chewing Gum the false story.
Gives Up Its Secrets

ALMOST 6,000 YEARS AGO, SOMEONE CHEWED A
WAD OF GUM MADE FROM HEATED BIRCH BARK.
Modern researchers found the chewed gum in what’s now
Denmark. And the gum chewer had left behind something
else: DNA.

Scientists were able to learn a lot about this long-ago
human from the DNA. The gum chewer was female, they
found. She likely had dark skin, dark brown hair, and blue
eyes. She had some germs in her mouth similar to our
germs today. The scientists also found DNA from foods she
had recently eaten: hazelnuts and duck meat.

9

Friend & Fellow
by Bert Hölldobler

Meet biology great Edward O. Wilson

A 6-foot-tall, ant colony. But all that he seemed to discussed new ideas, controversies,
bespectacled be capturing was workers, not soldiers. and resolutions, and sometimes I
professor got So he continued to crawl along the played the devil’s advocate when Ed
down on his hands trail all the way to the nest entrance. tried out a new hypothesis on me.
and knees and crawled There, to the absolute bewilderment
along the ground. of park visitors, he approached (quite Although we had our separate
He had an aspirator obliviously) a young couple embracing research groups and programs, on
in his mouth, sucking behind a bush where the Pheidole nest many occasions we joined our talents
up Pheidole workers entrance was located. and enthusiasm for ants to form a
like an anteater. two-person team. Our collaboration
Alas, the behavior of this fanatic resulted in the publication of The Ants, a
myrmecologist was so suspicious book about one of the largest and most
that the police appeared on the scene diverse groups of animals on the planet.
to inquire about his activities. Needless To our utter surprise, it became the first
to say, we never made it to the little scientific book ever to be awarded the
restaurant that he had recommended Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction writing.
to me with mouthwatering superla-
tives. But that evening Ed discovered During those years at Harvard,
six new Pheidole species in the San José Ed and I conducted several research
city park. trips to Costa Rica to study the
country’s rich population of ants. On
My friend and colleague Ed Shaping a Generation such occasions, I experienced Ed’s
Wilson was on a mission. That night, enormous enthusiasm for the diversity
he needed Pheidole soldiers for his I had first met Ed Wilson in 1969. His of life, his tremendous knowledge of
taxonomic work, and he wasn’t work on chemical communication in natural history, and most of all his
having much luck finding them. After animals, in particular in social insects, unending drive as a collector.
spending two weeks or so in the La had influenced a whole generation
Selva rainforest of Costa Rica, we had of young scientists who had explored Opening New Areas of Study
returned to the city of San José. It was a completely new area in behavioral
the evening before our departure and physiology. I was one of them. Edward O. Wilson is not an extrovert,
return to Boston. Ed invited me to a a flamboyant person who thrives
restaurant located behind a little city Later in 1973, when I joined the when standing in the limelight
park close to our hotel. biology faculty at Harvard University, of public attention. He is just the
I had the great pleasure of sharing contrary: a scientist and scholar who
It was at the entrance to the park with Ed the fourth floor of the is most happy in the library, at the
that he spotted the trail of the Pheidole Museum of Comparative Zoology desk in his study, or in the rainforest
Laboratories there. During numerous of Costa Rica, cutting up rotting wood
lunch meetings over 17 years, we as he searches for little-known ant

10

Edward O. Wilson, left, and
Bert Hölldobler at Harvard
University in 1990

species that specialize in hunting increasing ferocity. Every year, every catastrophes would be for us, they can
mites. But during his more than day, maybe every hour, species go be repaired within a few generations . .
50 years of scientific work, Ed has extinct—each a distinctive entity of . . The one process ongoing . . . that will
witnessed the humanmade habitat life, evolved over millions of years, take millions of years to correct is the
destruction and mass extinction wiped out and gone forever within loss of genetic and species diversity by
of life forms. And this finally drove the short span of our lifetimes. the destruction of natural habitats. This
him to become a spokesperson and [is the] folly [for which] our descendants
chief advocate for the new field of Nature has rebounded from five are least likely to forgive us.”
conservation biology and the study previous mass extinctions that occurred
of biodiversity. over a period of 500 million years. Although Ed’s work has spanned
However, it took several tens of millions many areas of intellectual pursuit,
The irresponsible negligence of years to rebound from each. The from evolutionary biology to the
and dangerous ignorance about Sixth Extinction is happening much theory of human nature and has
the complex and fragile texture of faster and will have unforeseeable cast him as a conservationist and
nature finally has become part of consequences for human life as we environmental activist, he explains
public awareness, largely due to the know it and the generations to come, his true essence best in this quote
writings—and, yes, preaching—of unless it is stopped soon. from his autobiography, Naturalist:
Edward O. Wilson. He is a scientist “In my heart, I will be an explorer
who has been able to attract public When Harvard Magazine asked naturalist until I die.” There is no
attention by telling us how important several of its professors what they doubt in my mind that he will be.
biodiversity is for our own survival. considered to be the major problems
for humanity in the future, Edward O. Bert Hölldobler, PhD, is a behavioral
Standing Against Folly Wilson replied: biologist. He is Foundation Professor of
Life Sciences at Arizona State University,
Ed is determined to prevent a “The worst that can happen. . . [that] where he played a key role in organizing
Sixth Extinction—a mass extinction will happen . . . is not energy depletion, the social insect research group at the
of life forms, one that is humanmade economic collapse, limited nuclear School of Life Sciences.
and is proceeding right now with war, or conquest by a totalitarian
government. As terrible as these

11

E.O. WILSON TIMELINE 1949 — Receives bachelor’s
degree in biology from the
by Bert Hölldobler 1955 — Receives doctorate University of Alabama. The
from Harvard University with following year, receives
1967 — With the late a thesis on the naming and master’s degree.
Robert H. MacArthur FODVVLğFDWLRQ RI WKH DQW JHQXV
from Princeton University, Lasius. A brilliant student, 1954 — Journeys to New Guinea
publishes The Theory of he was admitted to Harvard to collect ants and develops (in
Island Biogeography. although he was unable to collaboration with William L. Brown) a
pay tuition. critique of the notion of “subspecies.”
Begins research on “character
displacement,” which occurs when two
similar species occupying the same
geographic area diverge genetically.

1969 — 1958 — Accepts 1992 — Publishes
Becomes teaching position with The Diversity of Life, an
member of Harvard University in the account of how the world
the National Department of Biology. became diverse and how
Academy humans are destroying
of Sciences. 1960s — Develops and tests that diversity.
the hypothesis that species
1971 — Publishes exist in chosen environments in 1990 — Receives
outstanding book The a state of dynamic equilibrium Crafoord Prize in
Insect Societies. From (balance). His work becomes ecology from the
early in his career, Wilson an important basis for further Royal Swedish
wonders about new research in ecology and Academy of Science.
ways to understand conservation biology.
the evolution of social
organizations in animals, 1984 — Publishes Biophilia.
from primates to insects. Renowned biologist Paul
Ehrlich calls it “the best
1973 — Becomes Curator in thing I have ever read on the
Entomology at the Museum need for developing a deep
of Comparative Zoology at environmental ethic if our
Harvard University. civilization is to persist.”

1975 — Publishes Sociobiology: 1978 — Publishes On 1981 — Publishes Genes, Mind,
The New Synthesis, a massive Human Nature. The and Culture, co-authored with
work that lays the basis for a sociobiology debate the mathematician Charles J.
new means of understanding stimulates Wilson to Lumsden. His books on genes and
the evolution of various social write this even more human nature are still debated
behaviors. The last chapter of provocative book, for among evolutionary biologists,
the book, titled “Man — From which he receives his anthropologists, sociologists,
Sociobiology to Sociology,” ğUVW 3XOLW]HU 3UL]H LQ psychologists, and philosophers.
ignites great controversy. -RLQV 6FLHQWLğF
Advisory Committee
1977 — Receives of the World Wildlife
the National Medal Fund.
of Science from
President Jimmy
Carter.

1994 — Publishes 1997 — Retires from
autobiography, teaching at Harvard
Naturalist, and Journey 8QLYHUVLW\ 5HFLSLHQW RI
to the Ants: A Story of WKH ğUVW (GZDUG 2VERUQH
6FLHQWLğF ([SORUDWLRQ, Wilson Naturalist Award
FR DXWKRUHG ZLWK PH from the American Society
RI 1DWXUDOLVWV 7KLV DZDUG
1993 — Receives is named after Wilson in
International Prize recognition of a lifetime of
of Biology from the RXWVWDQGLQJ FRQWULEXWLRQV
-DSDQHVH JRYHUQPHQW

1996 — Named
one of Time
magazine’s 25
0RVW ,QĠXHQWLDO
3HRSOH

1991 — Publishes The 1998 — Publishes 2019 — At
Ants, with me, a review of Consilience: The almost 90 years
all topics in the anatomy, Unity of Knowledge old, publishes
physiology, social Named as one of the Genesis: The
organization, ecology, and 100 Champions of 'HHS 2ULJLQ RI
natural history of the ants, Conservation of the Societies.
for which we share the 1991 20th Century by the
Pulitzer Prize in general National Audubon 2013 — Publishes
QRQğFWLRQ 6RFLHW\ the illustrated
collection Letters to
2000 — Receives 1999 — Publishes a Young Scientist
King Faisal Biological Diversity:
International Prize The Oldest Human
of Science, Saudi Heritage.
$UDELD

2002 — Publishes
The Future of Life, a
moving description
RI RXU ELRVSKHUH

2006 — Publishes

The Creation: An
$SSHDO WR 6DYH /LIH
RQ (DUWK

2003 — Publishes 2005 — 7KH ( 2 :LOVRQ %LRGLYHUVLW\
Pheidole in the New Foundation is formed, with the mission
World, in which he of preserving biological diversity in the
names many new OLYLQJ HQYLURQPHQW
DQW VSHFLHV

13

The true story of a young scientist

e a hunter and explorer.” This is the advice, says
world-renowned entomologist E.O. Wilson in his
1994 autobiography, Naturalist, that he gives to
his science students. “If you have the will, there
is a discipline in which you can succeed.”
:LOVRQ VKRXOG NQRZ $ QDWLYH RI $ODEDPD WKH ğHUFHO\
intelligent, Pulitzer Prize–winning scientist has lived a
dream by following a passion—one that he discovered
at the ripe old age of 7.

14

by Stephen James O’Meara

Edward O. Wilson searched for
ants around his home in Mobile,
Alabama. At the age of 13, he
IRXQG WKH ğUVW LPSRUWHG ğUH
ants known in the United States.

15

In Florida, at the age of 7,
E.O. Wilson developed a
passion for the natural world.

WRDGğVK

As he explains in his auto- sea nettle that was dependable. “Animals and
biography, it began with a hunt plants, I could count on,” he explains.
for monsters. It was the summer of All these creatures, Wilson “Human relationships were more
1936, and young Wilson was living thought, were wonderful. They were difficult.”
at Paradise Beach, a small settle- part of his endless, timeless, and
ment on the east shore of Florida’s inexhaustible water world. It was a His parents, in fact, had sent
Perdido Bay, near Pensacola. One day, place where he felt ready to explore, Wilson to a family in Paradise Beach
while standing in the shallows, he ready to learn. “A child comes to that summer so they could work
discovered a sea creature that “existed the edge of the deep water with a through a divorce. But Paradise had
outside my previous imagination.” The mind prepared for wonder,” he says, its perils: One day, while fishing,
creature was a sea nettle (Chrysaora adding that “hands-on experience Wilson reeled in a spiny fish. But he
quinquecirrha), and he spent hours at the critical time, not systematic pulled too hard on the line. The fish
studying it. knowledge, is what counts in the flew out of the water and into his
making of a naturalist.” face; one of the fish’s 10 dorsal spines
A New Fascination pierced the pupil of his right eye.
In the flash of a summer, E.O. He eventually lost sight in it.
Although he never saw the creature Wilson, the explorer, was born.
again, the boy had found a new Wilson also had an inherited defect
fascination: nature. Each successive Trouble in Paradise that brought on permanent hearing
day found Wilson scouring the beach impairment. In addition, he struggled
and its waters for more and greater Short, skinny, and “geekish,” Wilson with math and had a mild form of
treasures. found solace in nature because life dyslexia. Rather than wallow in these
at home was so troubled. Nature, he limitations, Wilson accepted them
All creatures, Wilson tells us, swell says, was his companion of choice, and moved on. He wore a hearing
to magnificence when seen through because it was one part of his life aid and, to his delight, found that his
the lens of a child’s eye. When he good left eye was very good indeed
was young, he saw animals to be at close range. “I lost stereoscopy,”
twice the size he now sees them. “So he explains, “but I can make out fine
giants can be real,” he argues, “even print and the hairs on the bodies of
if adults don’t choose to classify small insects.” So he fine-tuned his
them as such.” And in the summer passion: “I was destined to become an
of ’36, Wilson caught glimpses of entomologist, committed to minute
some true monsters. First there was crawling and flying insects . . .” Wilson
the sea nettle, then a sleek stingray, gave up on giants and turned his
then a gruesome Gulf toadfish—“an attention instead to the “little things
omnivorous bottom-dweller with of the world.”
a huge mouth, bulging eyes, and
slimy skin.”

16

E.O. Wilson’s child- ultramarathoners, military heroes,
hood enthusiasm and a very few scientists.”
led to his long and
celebrated career Wilson’s formula for being a hero
studying ants. is simple but difficult to follow. You
need to “drive toward daunting goals
The National Zoo in At the age of 10, E.O. Wilson the with nerves steeled against failure
Washington, DC naturalist had found his lifelong and a readiness to accept pain.”
direction. You need to be a scientist like Philip
In the flash of a fishing accident, Jackson Darlington, former Curator in
E.O. Wilson the entomologist had It was around this time that Entomology at Harvard University’s
emerged. he became fascinated specifically Museum of Comparative Zoology,
with ants—the tiny creatures that and one of Wilson’s early heroes.
Little Wonder would focus his career, serve as a
model for much of his work, and In the 1940s, Darlington was in
When Wilson was 10, his father (now be the topic of his Pulitzer Prize– hard pursuit of insects in the jungles
newly remarried) moved the family to winning book, The Ants. (He co- of Papua New Guinea. During one
Washington, DC—a bug’s flight from authored the monumental work adventure, a several-hundred-pound
the National Zoo and the National while a biology professor at Harvard, crocodile grabbed the 39-year-old
Museum of Natural History. Wilson with his friend and colleague Bert man, dragged him underwater, and
had found what every child dreams Hölldobler.) All it took was a spark. tried to rip him apart. Miraculously,
of—his magic kingdom! The museum In this case, it was a simple walk Darlington escaped from the jaws
was Wilson’s fantasy world. in the woods, the peeling back of of death. But the bones of his right
some bark, and the appearance arm were crushed, and the muscles
One day, as he traipsed through the of a “seething mass” of citronella and ligaments of both arms were
National Museum’s halls, he became ants. Thirty years later in his torn. Undaunted, Darlington learned
acutely aware that he was surrounded Harvard laboratory, Wilson would to perfect a left-handed collecting
not only by marvelous relics of nature, discover how these ants secrete the technique, returned to the jungle,
but also by the museum’s curators. chemical citronellal and use it to and continued to work year after
At that moment, he realized what his attack enemies and spread alarm year until he had greatly expanded
life goal would be: He wanted to be a throughout the colony. our knowledge of the insects of Papua
scientist, “to be a steward of animals New Guinea and other parts of the
and plants, and to put the expertise to The Hero’s Heroes world. “I grant,” Wilson says, “that
public service.” to fight off a crocodile is an act of
Naturalist is filled with epiphanies— survival, not proof of character.
distinct moments of awakening, But to go where crocodiles live is.”
when the young Wilson knew which
road to take. But if anything in his When Wilson was 23 and ready to
autobiography captures his essence, set off on his first field trip to collect
it is the people whom he says he insects in the tropics, he went to
admires—people who “concentrate Darlington for advice. “Most people,”
all the courage and self-discipline Darlington shared, “take it easy when
they possess toward a single worthy they go in the field.” He told Wilson
goal: explorers, mountain climbers, not to stay on the trails, but to walk
in a straight line through the forest.
“Try to go over any barrier you meet,”
he advised. “It’s hard, but it’s the
best way to collect.” Darlington’s
advice for ant collecting might be
considered a metaphor for the way
Wilson began his life and has lived
it for nine decades. Life can be hard.
Steel yourself to it; face its challenges.
Do not fear—the hard way is the right
way. Be brave, be driven, and keep
your mind and best eye open.

Stephen James O’Meara is an author and

astronomer.

17

Science@Work

by Elizabeth Lindstrom

EDWARD O.WILSON

BIOLOGIST, NATURALIST, AUTHOR, SCIENCE PIONEER

E.O. WILSON, the (other) Ant Man, has made his favorite little
creatures familiar to the public. Now Wilson, also known as the Dean
of Biodiversity, hopes to draw as much attention to all of the species
on our planet, in an effort to save them from human-caused extinction
before it is too late.

18

We talked with Wilson in YOU’VE SAID THAT BEING A NATURALIST IS NOT JUST
2007 about the importance AN ACTIVITY, BUT AN HONORABLE STATE OF MIND.
of nature in our lives, the WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
survival of life on this planet,
and, of course, about his first To be a naturalist is a lifelong calling, even if you only have the
love, ants. opportunity to enjoy nature by going to the outdoors from time
to time. The pleasure of it comes from having an endless world to
At 77, the Pellegrino explore—a world that is still mostly beyond human understanding
Research Professor Emeritus so that always, every time you go out, you find something new. An
at Harvard still went to his interest in the study and maintenance of biodiversity is honorable
office on the fourth floor of because the future existence of our world depends on it.
the Museum of Comparative ________________
Zoology on most days. He
was working on his 21st book, YOU’VE ALSO SAID THAT BECOMING A NATURALIST
but admitted to still being IS NOT LIKE STUDYING ALGEBRA OR LEARNING A
“astonished” by the response FOREIGN LANGUAGE. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU
to his last one, The Creation. GIVE TO A WOULD-BE NATURALIST?
Written as an impassioned
letter to a Southern Baptist I’m glad that question was asked. You do not memorize nature
pastor, the book asks that the or practice studying it with a pencil and paper. You learn it by
forces of science and religion experiencing it with all of your senses—to see, to smell, to hear,
put aside their differences to touch, and to manipulate. It’s perfectly all right when exploring
about how life began and (provided that you’re not in a strictly protected nature reserve) to
join together to save it, explore and handle, even to bring back specimens—if they are not
because “each species, endangered species, of course—and to examine them at home.
however inconspicuous and
humble it may seem to us at This is the way children always grew up before we became such
the moment, is a masterpiece an urbanized society. And it is the way that many people came to
of biology, and well love the outdoors. In fact, it has proved one of the best routes for
worth saving.” producing scientists—not just biologists who have an instilled
interest in living organisms, but even physicists and chemists
________________

KIDS TODAY ENJOY USING SMART DEVICES TO FILL
THEIR DAYS. DO THEY EVEN NEED NATURE?

They need nature even more because of the modern conveniences
of communication. They have been increasingly isolated from the
natural world.

After all, this is the world that children lived in for millions of
years before the coming of modern technology. They need to know
that some of the real world outside of the human cocoon is also
very important.

19

Science@Work

BUT IF SPECIES EXTINCTION CONTINUES AT THE Superorganisms achieve things that
PRESENT RATE, WILL THE NATURAL WORLD AS no one member of the group can do
WE KNOW IT CONTINUE TO EXIST FOR THE KIDS by itself. Army ants create bridges
OF TODAY? out of their own bodies!

If this were a football game, we would be in the second quarter and go ahead on our own, but
losing. A lot of damage has already been done to the environment. must rely substantially on
Many species have gone extinct, and many of the vital habitats of the rest of life. And this
the world have been damaged or even erased. This momentum will is that even if you could
carry us further, resulting in even greater loss. But we can slow the create new species, we
destruction and eventually bring it to a halt and even reverse it in have no idea yet how to put
some cases—of course, not including the extinction of species that them together to create a
has already occurred. balanced ecosystem such as
________________ a wetland, or a pond, or
a forest.
SOME FUTURISTS SAY THAT SOON WE’LL BE ________________
ABLE TO CREATE NEW ORGANISMS TO OUR OWN
SPECIFICATIONS. THEY ASK, “WHY SHOULD WE SO TECHNOLOGY
WORRY ABOUT THE LOSS OF SPECIES?” WON’T ENABLE US
TO BECOME A
I think that it is extremely dangerous to throw away what is SPACESHIP EARTH?
already here and a necessary part of our own security, with the
belief that somehow we’re going to be clever enough to replace There are optimists who
it in the laboratory. believe that it is a good thing
to continue to humanize
We don’t even know what 90 percent or more of the species of the world until finally all
animals and microorganisms are on Earth. So as we wipe them that is left is humanity and
all out, how are we going to know what it was that we destroyed a few plants and animals
in order to replace it? to support us and our
habitations. But anyone
And there is yet another reason for supposing that we cannot who knows how Earth’s
environment works knows
20 that this is an extremely

dangerous track to take. The under way, with groups in science, of course, and now increasingly
fact is that most of the living in religion, and hopefully more and more in political life joining the
world, and including the effort to bring environmental destruction to an end and ensure a
natural world, provides us better life for everyone thereafter.
with our life support system, ________________
without our even having to
worry about it. YOUR 2009 BOOK WITH YOUR COLLEAGUE BERT
HÖLLDOBLER . . . WHAT IS THAT ABOUT?
A study made 10 years ago
by biologists and economists, It’s called Superorganism. It’s entirely focused on the social
and that I believe is still insects—ants, bees, wasps, and termites—because they are the
relevant, estimated that the best superorganisms in the world. They provide through their
services that the natural study a deep understanding of how biological organization
environment gives us scot- works, in principles that may well be applied to the next level
free were then worth in the down to help explain how organisms themselves work.
vicinity of $30 trillion. This ________________
would be closer to $50 trillion
today—that’s trillion with a AND THIS BRINGS US TO YOUR FAVORITE SUBJECT.
“t.” These services include the WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE MOST AMAZING
cleansing of the water, water ANT BEHAVIOR?
resources management, soil
creation and enrichment, I have many candidates, but I guess my favorite is the one I
pollination, and the making describe in The Creation, the pitchfork ant. This is an ant that
of breathable air itself. has jaws like pitchforks. As a mature scientist, I wanted to know
what these ants use these two pitchforks for that they carry
In other words, by around on their head. But a young Brazilian entomologist beat
destroying nature, we are me to it. He discovered that these ants hunt just one kind of
throwing away an enormous creature, and they use their pitchforks to capture it. It’s a kind
gift and making life more and
more risky in the future. Does the global
________________ movement for
environmental
ARE YOU HOPEFUL justice make you
THAT LATER IN THE hopeful too?
21ST CENTURY, AS
OUR READERS BECOME
ADULTS, SAVING
OUR ENVIRONMENT
WILL BECOME A
TOP PRIORITY?b

I’m optimistic that in fact we
will save most of the rest of
life and the natural world.
In good part, I believe this
because the mood of the
world is changing, including
that of the United States, so
as to recognize the kinds of
damage that we are doing
to our planetary home and
the consequences that will
follow if we do not correct
our behavior. Already a
strong movement toward the
“greening” of politics here
in the United States, and in
other countries too, is well

21

Science@Work of millipede, a thousand-
legger that is protected by its
covering of long bristles like
a porcupine. The ants use
the tines in their pitchforks
to pierce through the bristles
and carry the millipede
home for food.

So when I say that
natural history supplies you
with endless wonders and
even the opportunity for
making original scientific
discoveries, I mean that
this applies to everyone
everywhere, to amateurs and
even to children.
________________

This is all you It’s a complete WE’VE LEARNED
wrote, O? biography FROM YOU THAT
ANTS ARE VERY,
. . . of VERY SUCCESSFUL
an ant. INSECTS. DO THEY
HAVE ANYTHING
TO TEACH US?

In the moral realm, nothing.
Their colonies are, after all,
based upon rigid division of
labor, even in reproductive
roles. Their colonies are
all-female, and while I’m a
feminist, I think that this is
going a little too far.

Males, when they appear,
are allowed to stay around
for a very brief period of
time just to be mates, and
then they get lost when
they go out to mate, or
they’re thrown out, or they
die. Their lives are usually
quite short.

Colonies of most species
of ants are extremely
aggressive toward other
colonies. Finally, many ant
species simply eat their dead
and wounded, so—trust
me—you would not want to
model your society or your
family on what ants do.

Elizabeth Lindstrom is the past
editor of Odyssey magazine.

22

Hands-On THE WORLD
IN A TREE
TRUNK

Exploring through observing

INCREDIBLE DISCOVERIES might be
waiting in your own backyard. As E.O.
Wilson says in his autobiography,
Naturalist, “a lifetime can be spent
in a Magellanic voyage around
the trunk of a single tree.” Every
exploration is a voyage of discovery
akin to Ferdinand Magellan’s, as long
as you see something you never
knew existed.

Here’s your chance to put your
best eye forward. Take the time—
plenty of it—to walk around a tree
and record all that you discover.
What type of tree is it? What do
you notice about its trunk? Do you
see any birds? Mammals? Insects?
Reptiles? Amphibians? What species
are they? Is there anything curious
about the tree’s bark? Do you see
evidence of animal habitats, such as
boreholes in the bark or caterpillar
nests? Do you see any lichens or
mosses? Use a magnifying glass to
see the littlest wonders.

Now it’s time to record your data
in as much detail as possible. Make
two columns on a piece of paper. On
the left side, make a drawing of each
of the various life forms you see. Use
the righthand column to record the
number and kind and description of
each species. If you like to sketch,
capture the tree ecosystem close-up
and at a distance in an artistic way.

23

ART SPACE NIC McDOUGAL

ONE SWEET
EXPERIMENT

Worker ants must build, feed, and guard their
colony. To do this, they need to communicate with
each other. Like most living things, ants depend
on chemical odors (known as pheromones) to
send messages, such as, “I found food over here
. . . this ant looks dead—take him out . . . alert!
there’s a stranger in here.” Over the years, E.O.
Wilson has carried out hundreds of experiments
WR ğQG WKH PHDQLQJV RI WKHVH RGRU VLJQDOV

You can do an experiment to test the odor
signals of ants. Put several drops of sugar water
on a piece of paper. Place the paper near some
ants. Watch as one ant discovers the food. Other
DQWV ZLOO VRRQ IROORZ WKH ğUVW DQWłV RGRU WUDLO
Turn the paper sideways. The ants will still follow
the scent of the odor trail, although the sugar
water is now in a different place.

One ant isn’t art © 2020 by Nic McDougal
quite like the
others. Can 25
you spot it?

by Mary Beth Cox, illustrated by Craig Spearing

Flashback, 1935:oung E.O. “Alabama” Wilson explores
the sidewalk outside his home. He

Y is entranced by a scurry of lion ants,

genus Dorymyrmex. Despite his respect
for living creatures, Alabama is overcome
by an urge to crush one of the six-legged
beasts. He does the deed. For his effort, he
is rewarded with a snoot full of a strange
smell. Just as from cookies in the oven, the
aroma of crushed lion ant stimulates his
hungry curiosity. It is Alabama’s first whiff
of science, and it promises a taste of high
ant-venture.

26

Fast-forward to 1958:

N ow grown up, Alabama Wilson Alabama also finds that carbon undertakers, dragging the squirming,
has rocked the scientific world dioxide has an ominous opposite. struggling, living “corpses” from
with an amazing discovery. Oleic acid is a chemical released by the mound and disposing of them
He has uncovered a tantalizing clue decomposing corpses. Oleic acid is in the great ant cemetery beyond.
to how ants communicate. Ants have the ants’ sign for “death.” Shaken but undeterred, Alabama
a gland located at the base of their presses on. He discovers patterns
stingers. The gland produces a special Alabama cannot resist the in the ants’ chemical language.
chemical called a pheromone. Ants temptation to experiment with this Lightweight chemicals, such as
use this pheromone to paint invisible dreaded substance. He dabs oleic carbon dioxide, are made of only a
trails to food they have found. acid on a few living ants. In so doing, few atoms. These chemicals are gases
Other ants pick up the scent of the he labels the ants with a chemical toe that are easily transmitted through
pheromone and follow the trail to tag. The oleic acid ants are zombies,
the eats. It is a powerful signal. An insects of the living dead. Alabama the air. This makes them
ant trail made of one teaspoon of watches with fascinated horror as perfect for general
this pheromone could circle Earth worker ants detect death’s odor on broadcasts to wide
5,000 times! the zombies. The workers become audiences. Ants

Alabama’s gut tells him 27
that there are more ant
pheromones awaiting
discovery. He is obsessed
with deciphering the
ants’ secret chemical
language. He goes on
the hunt in pursuit of
the fearsome fire ant.
Alabama stalks his
quarry through cow
pastures dotted with
the tiny pyramids
that are the fire ants’
mounds. Armed with
his trusty kitchen
strainer, he stakes out
the pasture’s streams,
bent on capturing the
fire ants’ royal flotillas.
These are barges of live
worker ants transporting
their queen downstream
to a new home. Alabama
scoops, strains, and
bottles waterborne fire
ants by the thousands.

The hard work and
stings suffered pay off. The
fire ants reveal to Alabama
their unspoken language of
the living . . . and the dead.
He learns that ants recognize
that other ants are “alive” by
detecting the carbon dioxide
from their respiration, or
breathing. Carbon dioxide is the
ants’ chemical sign for “life.”

use lightweight chemicals for alar become a terri ing weapon. Inv for the good of the whole. Single ants
and warnings of danger. attacking a und can bombard unite and act as one. On the strength
defenders wi a mixed concoction of many, the colony becomes a kind
Heavier chemicals, made of of chemica called propaganda of superorganism. The superorganism
more atoms, are used for private pheromon s. To ants, the mix of has the power to outcompete other
communication. Manufacturing scents in ropaganda pheromones insects. It dominates territory and
heavy chemicals requires a s’ takes control of valuable resources.
bodies to expend more ene gy, but like the cacophony of noises in a
there is a payback for the nergy stampeding crowd. The confused Is there even more to it than
cost—many atoms arrange blend of chemicals spreads panic that? An artificial intelligence expert
in many combinations mean among defenders and throws orderly at Indiana University, Douglas
many possible chemical words. mounds into chaos. Hofstadter, suggests that the ant
Of all the possibilities, only one colony superorganism may be capable
chemical is the secret password. Inevitably, the years spent of more than even Alabama Wilson
Trail pheromone is this kind of translating pheromones lead Alabama suspects. Individual ants collect,
chemical password. Ants lay a Wilson to a startling conclusion: process, and pass on information via
pheromone trail to food that only Pheromones are more than chemical a chemical communication network.
their friends and family can follow. words. Pheromones are a way of life. Isn’t that what brain cells do? Could
The encryption in the chemical code They enable communication, and it be that an ant colony can “think?”
ensures that uninvited guests don’t communication enables organization. Is it possible that the superorganism
show up for lunch. Because of pheromones, individual is conscious?
ants can organize into a colony. In the
As Alabama’s research digs colony, complex behaviors emerge.
deeper, his prediction of more Workers are assigned specialized jobs
pheromones proves true. Every to increase colony productivity. The
mound of ants uses 10 to 20 needs of individuals are sacrificed
pheromones to communicate a
wealth of information. But the
boon is also a curse. In the glands
of invading ants, pheromones can

Finale:

Agraying Alabama Wilson strolls
the sidewalk of his boyhood
home. He is a pioneer in the
study of ant pheromones. Back in ’35,
he embarked on an incredible journey
because a crushed lion ant released
an alarm pheromone from its pygidial
gland. In Alabama’s opinion, ants are
too few and too loosely organized for
any colony to be “thinking.” But there’s
no harm in watching. If ever a mound
does become a writhing, crawling brain,
Alabama Wilson would be the first
to know.

Mary Beth Cox is a freelance writer who lives
in Texas.

28

BY LIZZIE WADE

Q&A

Q: Maybe—but not We associate aggression with
loudness, so when the foot-
In a lot of movies A because anything steps of a regular-sized person
and books, : about your ear could suddenly squash you, it
everything has changed, says makes sense that they’d seem
Madeline Huberth, super loud. Plus, research
moves slower shows that when you’re in a
and is louder to who studies the psychology scary situation, time seems to
anyone who has of music at Stanford Univer- slow down, Huberth says. That
shrunk. Is this sity. “The world around you shift in perception could make
actually what is going to be moving at the it seem like things are moving
would happen? same pace it was before,” and in slow motion with the vol-
your ear would still pick up ume turned up, even though
—Samuel F., age 12, Virginia the same range of frequencies it’s all in your (shrunken) head.
and volumes it does now, she
says. What would be different —Lizzie
is how you feel about those
sounds. Have any questions?
Send them to Muse Q&A,
When you are tiny, “you’re 70 E. Lake St., Suite 800,
likely to be extremely vulner-
able” and, therefore, terrified, Chicago, IL 60601,
Huberth says. Fear doesn’t or email them to
change the way your ear picks [email protected].
up a noise. But it does change
how your brain interprets it.

29

Photo Op BY SARA VAN DYCK

1 In excavating their underground nests, ants
carry decaying organic matter down into the
soil and carry minerals from below into the soil’s
upper layers, aerating and enriching it for plants.
Along with termites, ants remove more soil than
earthworms or human farmers do. Scientists in
Brazil measured the soil that leaf-cutter ants
(Atta sexdens) removed to make just one nest. It
weighed as much as six elephants—44 tons—
and took up 800 cubic feet of space.

Leaf-cutter ants (various Atta species) are
serious pests to farmers in Central and South
America. Cutting into corn and bean patches,
they can destroy billions of dollars of crops
yearly.

But the ants don’t eat all of these greens.
They’re used for the ants’ mini-farms. The worker
ants snip bits out of leaves and carry the bits into
their underground chambers. “Fungus gardens”
grown on the vegetation provide food for the
ants. These ants can strip a tree of its leaves in
just one night!
.

ANTS RULE

If all ants suddenly disappeared from the planet, life as we know
it would collapse. In their book Journey to the Ants, naturalist
E.O. Wilson and his colleague Bert Hölldobler analyzed the
enormous influence these creatures have on ecosystems. Ants
promote plant life, serve as predators and scavengers, and, in
turn, serve as food for birds, dragonflies, and spiders. But they
also can destroy crops and be serious pests.

Wilson estimates that there are 10,000 trillion ants on the
planet. They thrive in land habitats from forests to deserts to
tropics, from treetop canopies to underground.

30

2 Yet thousands of types of plants in

many continents thrive only because of

ants. They carry the seeds of woodland
ZLOGĠRZHUV WR WKHLU QHVWV GLVSHUVLQJ
them along the way. In the Arizona
desert, harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex
rugosus WDNH VHHGV IURP ĠRZHULQJ
plants, especially grasses, and eat parts

of them. Infected or already sprouted

seeds get dumped in a refuse pile around

the ant nests, where the seeds take root,

thus spreading the plants.

3 Acacia ants (Pseudomyr mex ferruginea) protect
bullhorn acacia trees from harmful insects. Biologist
Daniel Janzen removed the ants from some acacia
trees in Mexico. Soon, he found, harmful insects—
treehoppers, scarabs, and various beetles—sucked
on or chewed the tree leaves. On the trees where
acacia ants remained, the ants killed the invaders.
Without the ants, the plants were in trouble. In
return, the plants offer the ants convenient homes,
plus food from nectar and plant parts. It’s a cozy
UHODWLRQVKLS 6LPLODU V\PELRWLF UHODWLRQVKLSV EHQHğW
hundreds of plant and ant species in the tropics.

31

4 Animals in the tropical forests of the Americas
flee when army ants, or swarm raiders (Eciton
burchelli), appear. Tens of thousands of workers
can pour across the forest floor, capturing, killing,
and carrying their prey (other ants, spiders, and
scorpions) back to a “camp.” The area they scour
is stripped of its small creatures.

5 The imported red fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) from
South America has invaded southern states from Florida
to California. At age 13, E.O.Wilson was the first to
observe and record this species in the United States.

These ants are notorious for their fierce stings.
They find a natural home in our parks, backyards,
and schoolyards. Startled homeowners may even find
them foraging in a pile of dirty laundry.

Fire ants have displaced many native ants and
insects, says Rudolf Scheffrahn, an entomologist at the
University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural
Sciences, because they lack natural enemies in the
United States. Yet fire ants also help destroy pests that
harm sugar cane and cotton. Biological and chemical
controls help to keep these ants in check. But, accord-
ing to Scheffrahn, “There is no hope that the ant can be
completely eradicated.”

To see some truly powerful creatures, you don’t need to go to a movie or the zoo.
Just go outside, stoop down, and look around. Earth is the kingdom of the ants.

Sara van Dyck is a freelance writer in Santa Monica, California.

32

Hands-On

Clifford A. Pickover Ben Hodson

ANT MAZE

Can you make it all add up?

PRETEND THAT YOU’RE A PHEIDOLE ANT. You start at any one of the four entrances at the top (see arrows) of the maze pictured
here and exit through any one of the four exits at the bottom.

Each time you pass through an intersection with a number, you add that number to your cumulative sum. If the intersection has
no number, you add nothing to the sum. You start with a sum of zero.

Your mission as a worker ant is to start at one of the entrances and leave through one of the exits with a sum of 100. Once you
go through an intersection with a number, you cannot go through that intersection again during your journey.

Your ant colony is depending on you. You must solve this maze. How will you go about doing it? (Answer on page 46.)

33

Science@Work

by Emily Cambias

MAGDALENA SORGER

EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGIST

If you’re looking for someone to get you excited about ants,
Magdalena Sorger is happy to help. She’s an ant scientist at North
Carolina State University. Originally from Austria, Sorger has
collected ants all over the world. She studies how ants evolve
based on where they live. She often works with trap-jaw ants. These
insects with large, snapping jaws can launch themselves through
the air!

34

Dr. Magdalena thought “this is it.” Suddenly, strangely, I decided that I wanted
Sorger has studied to know everything there is to know about ants! I got back to
trap-jaw ants in Austria and started reading books, and then I ended up going
Florida. to the natural history museum in Vienna. Somebody there who
specifically works with ants took me on as a sort of apprentice.
WHAT GOT YOU He took me out in the field, and I started to learn about ants, and
INTERESTED IN ANTS? things continued from there. Two years later I started my PhD in
the US working exclusively on ants.
Originally, I was on a very ________________
different track. I was getting
my business degree in WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST EXPEDITION LIKE?
Vienna. In Austria, if you
study business, you don’t I got an opportunity to go to Guatemala, joining a university group
really do anything outside going to learn about the Maya culture and medicinal plants. I
of business. I chose to go emailed them and told them I would like to come to collect ants.
to the US for a semester. They thought that was great! So that’s what I did. It was my first
When I arrived, I really time being in the jungle. The jungle is an interesting place—you
liked that American schools can’t be afraid of bugs, because they’re everywhere. It’s also kind
give you the opportunity to of taxing to the body because it’s hot, and you might not have the
take classes outside of your opportunities for hygiene that you’d have usually. This was kind of
field. I took a psychology my test of “is this really what I want?”
class and a biology class.
The biology class was about I spent five days in the jungle on a small expedition to see a
animal behavior, and I remote Mayan excavated site . . . but of course I was just looking
learned that insects were for ants! In the underbrush I found my first trap-jaw ant and dived
really interesting. It’s kind for it. All those thoughts saying, “There’s snakes, you should be
of a whole world that you careful, you shouldn’t put your hand where you can’t see,” just
don’t see if you don’t look disappeared. I went for that ant, and I got her. She was in my hand,
closely. After I finished the snapping her jaws like crazy, and I was so happy! I knew that this
class, I went to different was it—that bugs didn’t bother me, they made me happy. When I
national parks, and for the came back to Austria, I knew that my fate was sealed, that that’s
first time in my life I paid what I wanted to do.
attention to these small
creatures. 35

There was this moment
when I looked at an ant and

Science@Work YOU STUDY HOW GEOGRAPHY AFFECTS ANTS.
CAN YOU TELL US WHAT THAT MEANS?
trap-jaw ant, lives on these
There are about 15,000 species of ants currently described. two ridges. I went down and
There are about one million species of insects described. collected these ants, and I
We know that there’s a lot more insects than that out there. noticed differences between
If you go into the microbial world these numbers are even the ants from each ridge. I
crazier—we know even less. The more I learned about ants, noticed they were behaving
the more I understood what we collectively don’t know. differently: one was a little bit
more aggressive. They were
My interest in geographic variation comes from that. If
we say there’s one species of animal that’s distributed in a
wide area, the area is actually made up of really different
areas when you look closely. For example, a mountain has
very different climates going from its top to its bottom.
So animals need very different adaptations to survive at
the top of the mountain versus at its bottom. With those
adaptations, animals that started off similar could become
different species. My interest and my research was really
about the question “is everything that we call a species really
a species?”

Central Florida has these ancient sand ridges where
the flora and fauna is unique. These ridges are like little
raised islands. There are two ridges not that far from each
other, and an ant species called Odontomachus relictus, a

ANT ANATOMY

art © 2020 by Daniela Magdalena Sorger

36

also a differently colored; Jack jumper ants
a little bit darker in one (Myrmecia pilosula)
region. Because they couldn’t are native to
meet each other, I felt sure Australia. Careful,
that these ants were not they sting!
the same species anymore.
They are closely related, but DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE ANT?
at some point they’d got
stuck on each ridge. Even I have an ant bucket list. There is an ant that’s at the very
though the ridges are similar top of my list that I would love to see in the wild: Gigantyops
to each other, they’re still destructor. It’s just this super, super cool ant. It occurs in
different environments. So Central and South America. When you look at an ant—or
different adaptations must any animal—what it looks like tells you about who it is and
have evolved in each of the what it does. This ant has giant eyes. Each eye covers almost
species. an entire side of its head! That tells you that it’s probably
doing something really visual. And indeed, these ants are
I haven’t finished this visual predators. They can jump! They spot their prey; then
research, so I haven’t they launch forward to latch on to it. I’d love to see them
described the species yet, but and get to know them. Maybe they’re my favorite ant. But
if that species is described there are so many others! There’s another ant in Australia
it’s going to become that I’d really like to see called a “jack jumper.” You can see I
America’s rarest ant, one that have kind of an affinity for the jumping ants! Which is funny
only occurs across an area of because jumping ants are really, really uncommon. There are
about 19 miles [30 km]. just four groups of ant species that can jump.

WHY DO YOU TEACH PEOPLE ABOUT ANTS?

In general I think it’s really important to learn about nature.
But it’s easiest when you have something specific you’re
interested in or that you’re looking for. In my case, I can
tell you the stories of animals you can meet when you go
outside. When people learn interesting things about ants,
next time they’re outside and see an ant, it’s not just a little
dot on the ground. That’s a creature that has a story, that’s
doing something interesting, and if they keep watching
maybe they’ll see something that they have never seen
before. Or something that nobody has ever seen before!
Because again, with insects that’s not that hard. There’s so
much that’s unknown, it’s absolutely possible for anybody to
make new discoveries.

Emily Cambias was afraid of ants when she was a kid. Now she’s a
fan! Her favorite is the herder ant. She is an assistant editor for
Muse.

37

ou don’t have to travel to Today Alan Peters is in charge All Hail the Queen
South America to watch of the Reptile Discovery Center.
leaf-cutter ants at work. Previously, he was the zoo’s curator While many humans change jobs
Museums and zoos help of invertebrates, animals with no several times in their careers, leaf-
people take a close-up backbone. Ants are invetebrates. cutter ants tackle the same tasks for
look at these amazing insects. A large their whole adult lives. For the most
leaf-cutter ant colony lived at the “I think of [the leaf-cutter colony] part, job assignments depend on the
Smithsonian Institution’s National as a body, and each ant has a different ants’ size. Heading up each colony is
Zoo Invertebrate Exhibit until it function,” explains Peters. Just as a queen. In nature, she starts the
closed in 2014. At least 10,000 ants different organs perform functions colony off with a midair dance.
can live within a chamber roughly the in our bodies, ants have particular Beating her wings furiously so that
size of a shoebox. Large colonies— jobs. “If those workers don’t do their she stays aloft, the queen mates with
like the one that was housed at the job, then the colony starts to fall multiple males. Each male releases
Invertebrate Exhibit in Washington, apart in the same way our body millions of sperm, some of which
DC—often have 15 to 20 such starts to fall apart when different the queen will store in her body for
chambers. parts don’t function properly,” years. The males die off soon after.
he notes. Meanwhile, the queen sheds her wings

38

The National Zoo once housed a large
leaf-cutter ant colony at its Inver-
tebrate Exhibit. Now the exhibit is
permanently closed. So where can
you go to see your favorite creepy-
crawlies behind glass? You can try
local science museums or the O. Orkin
Insect Zoo at the Smithsonian Institu-
tion’s Natural History Museum, where
scientists also offer close encounters
with a variety of bugs.

by Kathiann M. Kowalski

behiNnAdawtgioolarnlsadsl aZtoothe below ground to the fungus chambers, Making the Action Visible
where smaller gardener ants use the
and digs down into the ground. She leaves to nourish the fungus. Other In nature, much of the colony’s work
deposits some fungus spores she has ants harvest it. The fungus then gets occurs underground. At zoos and
carried in her mouth from her old distributed so all the ants get food. other exhibits, glass lets visitors see
nest. Then she begins laying eggs to inside the colony.
produce the rest of the colony. Leaf-cutter ants also have many
other jobs. Small, bodyguard ants Once leaf-cutter ant colonies are
Over the next decade, the queen sometimes ride on top of cutters, established, they’re easier to care
will have 100 million offspring or warding off parasite flies that might for than some other animals. Zoo
more. A few will be males or future lay eggs on them. Quality control ants caretakers supply fresh leafy material.
queens, who will eventually start inspect leaves before letting them into They remove debris piled up by the
other colonies. The rest will be the nest. Nurses care for immature colony’s garbage collectors. However,
sterile workers. ants. Garbage collectors remove zoo personnel don’t have to clean the
debris throughout the colony. glass or chambers where the ants farm
Other Jobs in the Colony fungus. “They’re good housekeepers,”
Soldier ants’ huge mandibles says Peters.
A colony farms a specific fungus, (jawlike mouth parts) make them
which is its food. Leaf cutters snip off the colony’s scariest-looking Zoo staff and volunteers enjoy
leaf bits above ground and carry them members. Weighing hundreds of answering visitors’ questions. “It’s
times what the smallest gardeners definitely something we get excited
do, the soldiers protect the colony about coming to work for,” says
from invaders. Sometimes groups Peters. When you visit most leaf-
of ants seem to gather together, cutter colonies, expect to see ants on
but it’s unclear whether they’re the go. “There’s a job to get done, and
“meeting” or resting. Much of leaf- they’re doing it.”
cutter ants’ communication takes
place through pheromones, Kathiann M. Kowalski is the author of more
chemical substances that trigger
particular behaviors. than 700 articles and 25 books for young

readers.

39

40

by Stephen James O’Meara

SSLQ D JOREH VORZO\ WR ğQG
1HZ =HDODQG ,WłV RQH RI
WKH ZRUOGłV PRVW LVRODWHG
LVODQG FRXQWULHV $XVWUDOLD
WKH QHDUHVW VLJQLğFDQW ODQG
PDVV LV RYHU D WKRXVDQG PLOHV DZD\
&RPSRVHG RI WZR ELJ LVODQGV VWUHWFKLQJ
DOPRVW PLOHV NP IURP
QRUWK WR VRXWK DQG D JDOD[\ RI VPDOOHU
LVODQGV 1HZ =HDODQG LV EHOLHYHG WR EH
D IUDJPHQW RI WKH DQFLHQW VRXWKHUQ
FRQWLQHQW RI *RQGZDQDODQG

41

Over the past 100 million years, environmentally as woodchucks, these species are also threatened
as New Zealand inched its way rabbits, deer. . . . They were . . . diversely by humans. The fact is, if a species
into its present isolation, plant and specialized for life in major habitats of of plant or animal is found in only
animal life emerged on the island. the islands, from mountain to lowland one place in the world and the
As these hardy survivors adapted to to wet forest. . . . In their prehuman environment there is destroyed,
their new island home, they evolved domain, they had only one predator, the species is destroyed too. Little
into species that are unique to the the giant New Zealand eagle, which wonder, then, that New Zealand is
region. The process is called adaptive weighed about 28 pounds. Then,
radiation. It involves one plant or like the sweep of a scythe, came the kea (Nestor
animal splitting into many species, to Maori. . . . They butchered the moas in notabilis)
fill different ecological niches—ways huge numbers and piled their bones
of life in the same geological area. conspicuously at hunting sites all tuatara (Sphenodon
When this process is well under way, over the islands. By the middle of the punctalus)
an organism no longer mates with fourteenth century, a matter of a few
its ancestral type and a new species decades, the moas were gone, and
emerges, with an increased chance presumably the world’s largest eagle
for survival. with them.”

HOT SPOT Today, New Zealand still has
amazing and unique plants and
Before humans arrived, New Zealand’s animals, including one of the world’s
plants and animals lived long and oldest reptiles (the tuatara), some
largely without fear. With the lack of of the oldest trees, the largest
predators, flight, for some species of earthworms, and the world’s only
birds, was not necessary for survival. mountain parrot (the kea). But
In fact, New Zealand at one time
had up to 15 kinds of giant flightless moa
birds called moas. The smallest was (Dinornis
the size of a turkey; the largest was robustus),
a giant at 15 feet (1.5 m) tall. Then, now extinct
in the thirteenth century, humans
arrived on the North Island. In his
book The Future of Life, E.O. Wilson
describes the moas’ native presence
in New Zealand and their subsequent
slaughter:

“Because New Zealand is remote
from Australia and other land
masses, it lacked native mammals.
Across millions of years, moas had
filled their niches. The birds served

42

one of E.O. Wilson’s global hot more habitats to hold more species seed, an insect clinging to a raft of
spots—a region of the world that than smaller ones. But the number wood, a strong-winged bird—can
is both rich in unique species and of species on any island reflects a survive a long voyage across the
environmentally threatened. balance between the rate at which Pacific from their native continents.
new species colonize it and the rate Conversely, the closer an island is
THE THEORY OF ISLAND at which populations of established to a large land mass, the higher the
BIOGEOGRAPHY species become extinct. number of species immigrants and the
more species in general.
To help explain the delicate balance It seems logical that an island
between life and extinction on island far removed from large land masses Over the millennia, biodiversity on
hot spots, E.O. Wilson and ecologist would have fewer immigrants an island (or a patch of habitat, which
Robert MacArthur developed the colonizing it. After all, life can only is also called an island) achieves what
theory of island biogeography in get to such a remote place by three Wilson calls species equilibrium—a
1963. Based on a very simple model, natural ways: wind, wings, and water. steady-state number of species due to
it explains the balance between While countless millions of species get a balance between the immigration
immigration (arrival of a species on the chance to colonize, only the most of new species and the extinction of
an island) and extinction. rugged pioneers—a salt-resistant old residents. On an isolated island,
Wilson found that species equilibrium
Wilson and MacArthur noticed occurs with fewer species. Therefore,
that islands around the world show in general, closer islands have greater
a consistent relationship between biodiversity; they also have higher
their size and the number of species extinction rates.
of plants (flora) and animals (fauna)
living on them. The larger the island, LIFE OR DEATH
the greater the number of species.
This is called the area effect. The We know that, generally, numbers
theory also holds that the farther an of species increase with available
island is from continents and other space and adequate food supplies.
islands, the fewer the species living Success, then, depends on how well
on it. This is the distance effect. species are able to populate a new
area and diversify.
According to the theory, in general,
the chance of extinction on a small Imagine that ten species of birds
island is greater than it is on a large fly to an island. Nine of these species
one, because larger islands have need berries to survive; the other

43

e

tui (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae)

one needs only bugs. The island, it more species there are. The species New Zealand’s biodiversity is
turns out, has no berries but plenty also need a stable environment, also threatened by hundreds of
of bugs. Well, unless the nine berry- one with a constant and tolerable mammal species that have been
eating bird species get used to eating climate. And since islands with larger introduced (taken by people to a
bugs—and can successfully compete areas have more habitats to support place where they don’t naturally
for food with the one species of bug- more species, they have slower rates occur). Introduced species can be
eating bird, the nine berry-eating bird of extinction than smaller islands. devastating to an island because
species will go extinct. Population size is also critical to they disturb the balanced ecosystem
species survival. As Wilson explains in that has been established over
Wilson looks at species in the his 1992 book, The Diversity of Life, “a millions of years by the island’s
classic sense, meaning that a population of 50 or more is adequate own species.
species is a population (or a series for the short term only, and one of
of populations of individuals) that 500 is needed to keep the species alive New Zealand isn’t the only “island”
interbreed freely with one another. and healthy into the distant future.” in trouble. As Wilson sees it, there
They are, he says, “more or less, Generally speaking, when populations are New Zealands all over the world
genetically isolated elements evolving get below about 100 individuals, then that need our attention. “The living
on their own.” When species interact harmful effects of inbreeding occur, resources of the world—ecosystems
with one another, they form a which lead to death or sterility. and its species—are still largely
community called an ecosystem. If the unexplored, much less studied for
ecosystem is left undisturbed, species GOING, GOING, GONE the benefits they might hold for
will evolve rapidly. And if the island humans,” he told the American
is large enough, and its terrain and Although much of New Zealand’s Institute of Biological Sciences in
climate varied enough, populations unique flora and fauna have survived, an interview. Wilson fears that by
of individuals may become isolated more than 150 species of native destroying our lush and natural
(form their own “islands”) and evolve plants and many native birds and habits, we’re forcing humanity into
into new species. other animals are now threatened an artificial world that requires
with extinction. Today, destruction constant tinkering. “Humanity,” he
Ultimately, species diversification, of forest habitats is one of the most says, “co-evolved with the rest of
will, over the course of thousands critical forces in extinction. “If past life on this particular planet; other
of years, achieve a balance, where species have lived on the order of worlds are not in our genes. Because
one species becomes dependent on a million years in the absence of scientists have yet to put names on
another. Imagine a tree that produces human interference, a common figure most kinds of organisms, and because
a fruit, that attracts a certain species for some groups documented in they entertain only a vague idea of
of bat, which, in turn, disperses the the fossil record,” Wilson writes, “it how ecosystems work, it is reckless
seeds, which helps the tree to expand follows that the normal ‘background’ to suppose that biodiversity can
its territory, which can sustain a extinction rate is about one species be diminished indefinitely without
larger population of bats, and so on. a year. Human activity has increased threatening humanity itself.”
This diversity continues to grow until extinction between 1,000 and 10,000
it achieves a comfortable equilibrium times over this level in the rainforest Stephen James O’Meara is an author
and continues at a steady state. by reduction in area alone.”
and astronomer.
For a species to succeed and grow
in these brave new worlds, Wilson
says that there are three things they
need, which he refers to as ESA: E
for energy, S for stability, and A for
area. The more energy available to the
evolving community of species, the

44

BY IVARS PETERSON

Do the Math end. Their solution is to lop
off the corners to make an
DICE eight-faced shape with four
hexagonal faces and four small
More faces, more fun? Are there any other dic -worthy equilateral triangles, where
polyhedrons? Eng eer an the numbers 1–4 go. The only
If you play board games, you’re used to Robert Fathauer and m h drawback is that once in a
rolling dice to move. Most of the time, Henry Segerman have com up wi while, the die may land on one
the dice you use are cubes. Each die five dice that bring some n shapes of its small triangular sides.
has six faces, and you have one chance to the fun and games. Toda s 3D
in six of rolling a given number. printers allow them to mak and test The other three designs
many different designs. An a azin allow you to roll numbers up to
But a cube isn’t the only possible one has 60 identical faces, so ou can 8, 12, or 24.
shape for dice. Fantasy games like roll any number from 1 to 60.
Dungeons & Dragons use dice with Any new design must give
four, eight, ten, twelve, or twenty The simplest die in the new set is an equal chance of rolling
identical faces. The 20-sided die is a variation on a tetrahedron, a f ur- every number. Fathauer
shape called an icosahedron, made up sided figure where each face is n and Segerman also spent a
of 20 equilateral triangles. equilateral triangle. Rolling a re lar lot of time figuring out how
tetrahedron is tricky. It doesn’t to number their dice. As a
easily, and no number faces up at the starting point, they put the
largest number so that it is on
a face opposite to the smallest
number. Then they spread
out the remaining numbers
as evenly as possible. For the
60-sided die, they arranged
the numbers so that the sums
of the numbers on all twelve
groups of five faces that make
up the die are the same.

Can you think of any games
that would take advantage of
these new dice?

Ivars Peters the author
e Mathematical Touri

45

CONTEST

NEW CONTEST —ANNA C. / Ohio

A Living Square ANNOUNCING

There’s life all around us, from the CONTEST WINNERS!
tiniest insect to the neighbor’s dog. In February we asked
Draw a little slice of your own great you to whip up a recipe
outdoors! Send us a drawing of all for a fabulous food item.
the plants and animals you find in You taught us how to
just one square foot of your make everything from
favorite natural place, whether lentil soup to lemonade.
that’s a park, a forest, or the grass We just hope our
beside the sidewalk. Write a very stomachs are big enough
short description of each living to eat all these delicious
thing you draw. We’ll show off our snacks . . .
favorite macro-sized microcosms in
a future issue. —EMELIA M. / Washington

CONTEST RULES RUNNERS-UP
1. Your contest entry must be your
very own original work. Ideas and Honorable Mention
words should not be copied. This month’s runners-up are
Jack F., age 12, Washington; Maria G., age
2. Be sure to include your name, 13, Massachusetts; Parker G., age 11,
age, and full address on your entry. Idaho; Chloe M., age 10, Iowa; Dana P., age
9, Colorado; and Grace P., age 11, Illinois.
3. Only one entry per person,
please.

4. If you want your work returned,
enclose a self-addressed, stamped
envelope.

5. All entries must be signed by a
parent or legal guardian, saying
that this is your own work and
no help was given and granting
permission to publish. For detailed
information about our compliance
with the Children’s Online Privacy
Protection Act, visit the policy page
at cricketmedia .com/privacy.

6. Your entry must be received by
August 31, 2020. We will publish
winning entries in the November/
December 2020 issue of Muse.

7. Send entries to Muse Contest,
70 E. Lake St., Suite 800, Chicago, IL
60601 or via email to
[email protected].
If entering a digital photo
or scan, please send at
300 dpi.

ANSWERS

PAGES 6–9 MUSE NEWS
Muse News False Story “Insect Inspiration”

PAGE 33 HANDS-ON ANT MAZE
Don’t worry if it takes a while to solve! Some of our
testers used calculators, while others used just a
pencil and paper. One solution starts at the “2” at
the upper right: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 50, 11, 11. Additional
solutions exist. How many more can you find?

46

BY KATHRYN HULICK MATTHEW BILLINGTON

Your Tech in, though.) A YouTube video
made the dangerous and false
HOW TRUSTWORTHY claim that breathing hot air
IS SOCIAL MEDIA? from a hair dryer would kill
the virus. This would not work
SOCIAL MEDIA HAS THE POWER to reach a large population and could even hurt you. You
almost instantly. Remember when the “Baby Shark” video could burn or damage the
went viral? Millions of people sang, “doo doo do doo do doo” soft tissue lining your eyes,
and danced along. When something “goes viral” online, the nose, and mouth. “Trying to
information spreads just like a virus in an outbreak. In the case breath in hot air . . . promptly
of a silly video, this spread does no harm—unless you really damages your first line of
hate getting songs stuck in your head. defense against infection—an
intact lining,” Jill Grimes,
But viral social media messages can be dangerous too, a doctor and author, told
because they’re often untrue. During the coronavirus Refinery29.
pandemic of 2019 and 2020, many rumors have spread about
how to prevent or cure the disease COVID-19. One frequently Unfortunately, rumors and
shared image showed viruses trapped in a person’s throat and hoaxes almost always spread
claimed taking sips of water or gargling with saltwater would faster and more widely on
prevent the virus from reaching the lungs. The virus does not social media than attempts to
stay trapped in the throat, and no type of water will wash it out correct rumors, according to
of the body. (Washing your hands can help keep it from getting research by Craig Silverman of
Columbia University. “Hoaxy,”
an online tool developed
at Indiana University,
automatically tracks both
false claims and efforts to
correct misinformation. The
tool’s creators found that
fact-checking on Twitter lags
behind a false post by 10 to 20
hours.

So how do you tell truth
from lies online? A group of
researchers in Chile started
analyzing news on Twitter
after a devastating earthquake
in Santiago in 2010. They
learned that false tweets tend
to include question marks
or exclamation points. True
tweets tend to be longer,
include links, and come from
users with more followers. If
you’re unsure whether a post
you’re seeing is true or not,
check it out on snopes.com or
factcheck.org.

In a disaster situation such
as an earthquake or pandemic,
rapid access to trustworthy
information can save lives.
Do you worry about whether
news you see—and share—
online is true or not?

47