Stanford Discovers... the "Anternet"

[Gahars]

Humanity is pretty special. No other species on the planet can has culture, art, scientific understanding, organized religion, a global economy, philosophy, or (to name a relatively recent groundbreaking invention) the internet quite like we do.

Well, actually, that last point isn't entirely correct. It looks like we were somewhat beaten to the punch... by ants.

...two Stanford researchers have discovered that a species of harvester ants determine how many foragers to send out of the nest in much the same way that Internet protocols discover how much bandwidth is available for the transfer of data. The researchers are calling it the "anternet."

Deborah Gordon, a biology professor at Stanford, has been studying ants for more than 20 years. When she figured out how the harvester ant colonies she had been observing in Arizona decided when to send out more ants to get food, she called across campus to Balaji Prabhakar, a professor of computer science at Stanford and an expert on how files are transferred on a computer network. At first he didn't see any overlap between his and Gordon's work, but inspiration would soon strike.

"The next day it occurred to me, 'Oh wait, this is almost the same as how [Internet] protocols discover how much bandwidth is available for transferring a file!'" Prabhakar said. "The algorithm the ants were using to discover how much food there is available is essentially the same as that used in the Transmission Control Protocol."

Transmission Control Protocol, or TCP, is an algorithm that manages data congestion on the Internet, and as such was integral in allowing the early web to scale up from a few dozen nodes to the billions in use today. Here's how it works: As a source, A, transfers a file to a destination, B, the file is broken into numbered packets. When B receives each packet, it sends an acknowledgment, or an ack, to A, that the packet arrived.

This feedback loop allows TCP to run congestion avoidance: If acks return at a slower rate than the data was sent out, that indicates that there is little bandwidth available, and the source throttles data transmission down accordingly. If acks return quickly, the source boosts its transmission speed. The process determines how much bandwidth is available and throttles data transmission accordingly.

It turns out that harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex barbatus) behave nearly the same way when searching for food. Gordon has found that the rate at which harvester ants – which forage for seeds as individuals – leave the nest to search for food corresponds to food availability.

A forager won't return to the nest until it finds food. If seeds are plentiful, foragers return faster, and more ants leave the nest to forage. If, however, ants begin returning empty handed, the search is slowed, and perhaps called off.

Prabhakar wrote an ant algorithm to predict foraging behavior depending on the amount of food – i.e., bandwidth – available. Gordon's experiments manipulate the rate of forager return. Working with Stanford student Katie Dektar, they found that the TCP-influenced algorithm almost exactly matched the ant behavior found in Gordon's experiments.

"Ants have discovered an algorithm that we know well, and they've been doing it for millions of years," Prabhakar said.

Stanford

So yeah, it's obviously not exactly the same, but the similarities are striking. It seems that our algorithms are much more ant-iquated than we thought.

This really is a fascinating discovery, and gives us a clearer insight into the workings of ant colonies. On the other hand, it also doesn't make ants any less terrifying (If you need video evidence). Seriously, millions of ants working together with computational efficiency?

I don't know about you guys, but I, for one, welcome our new Ant overlords.

 

[BORTZ]

1. I love Gahar's Science lectures. I attend every one i can.
2.Thats. So. Awesome.

 

[Lastly]

How.... is... that... science? It's like saying a beaver uses the same algorithm as a chainsaw.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

How.... is... that... science? It's like saying a beaver uses the same algorithm as a chainsaw.

So organic life behaving in the same way the internet does isn't interesting?

I'd suggest watching some cartoons.

 

[Lastly]

How.... is... that... science? It's like saying a beaver uses the same algorithm as a chainsaw.

So organic life behaving in the same way the internet does isn't interesting?

I'd suggest watching some cartoons.

Interesting, yes, but not a scientific breakthrough. It's quite amazing that the formula is quite similar, but isn't it quite normal to call off a search party if the search is slow? I mean an Ant's struggle for the fittest is linear, now is it?

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Wow. Next you'll be telling me bears shit in the woods!

But this is pretty interesting. Gotta love it when Gahars posts science-y stuff.

 

[324atk]

1. I love Gahar's Science lectures. I attend every one i can.

I vote Gahars for Official Temp Scientist.

 

[Satangel]

Ants are so amazing and strong, I love seeing these Youtube vids of them? So powerful and disciplined.

 

[chavosaur]

Ants are so amazing and strong, I love seeing these Youtube vids of them? So powerful and disciplined.

Goes to show what ninjas they are.
After all, they Ninja'd the internet right from under us

 

[shakirmoledina]

amazing. i even heard that they have their trading centres/markets where they exchange items.
ants are probably the most organized animals we know of.

 

[BORTZ]

1. I love Gahar's Science lectures. I attend every one i can.

I vote Gahars for Official Temp Scientist.

Seconded. I vote hes upgraded to a "Science Reporter". His metal should be a little little flask.

 

[Gahars]

Wow. Next you'll be telling me bears shit in the woods!

If the shitting bears resemblance to some sort of algorithm, you better believe I will!