Colony or Ant: Who is in Charge?

Speaker: Ofer Feinerman, Department of Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science

Cooperative transport of large items is a behavior that is extremely rare outside humans and ants. Indeed, this is a complex behavior that requires non-trivial coordination not only in tugging but also in more cognitive tasks such as navigation and problem solving. Feinerman will present several aspects of this behavior while focusing on the origins of this group cognition. Is it a manifestation of the abilities of a single ant or, rather, an emergent consequence of the communication between a large number of individuals?