London - Worker ants are better than Google at searching, it is claimed.
A colony of ants foraging for food process information incredibly efficiently, research shows.
While an individual ant hunting for something to eat wanders in a random path, their collective behaviour turns chaos into order.
Together, they employ complex problem-solving strategies, using navigational strategies to divide themselves into “scouting” and “gathering” groups, a German-Chinese team discovered.
After taking a random route, they leave a trail of pheromones so gathering ants can shorten their journeys to food. A “self-reinforcing effect of efficiency” then comes into play, according to the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“These insects are, without doubt, more efficient than Google in processing information about their surroundings,” said researcher Professor Jurgen Kurths. - Daily Mail