3 ms·

It's a pretty cool finding, but a shallow article and arguably clickbait. > ... it’s very possible there’s more governing army ant behavior than two simple rul

• EdwardCoffin 2y ago
  I read the article. I think that though it is relatively short, it isn't shallow, and certainly isn't clickbait. They also point to the paper the article draws from if you want more. >> ... it’s very possible there’s more governing army ant behavior than two simple rules. >Then don't say otherwise in the title! The title constrains the rules to those dictating bridge building, whereas the quoted caveat above is more general.
• beerandt 2y ago
  Yea they don't really define stampede, let alone the subsidence/ threshold to break-off. That's not a simple rule. Is it traffic, weight, vibrations? An absolute threshold for decrease, or just a rate drop? Which made me think- maybe a second rule exists, but it probably isn't necessary from an 'algorithm works' standpoint. If an ant starts marching again once it no longer has another on top of it- once the supply of ants starts to dwindle (too many tied up in bridge structure), the bridge will start to deconstruct itself on its own. It's a status toggled by other elements having the same boolean column. If too many are 'busy' as bridges, that leaves too few to hold the toggle buttons of the remaining others. It's not a bridge, it's a self-sorting, self-clearing traffic jam. You drive when you can. Which as a civil engineer the traffic aspect is more interesting to me than the bridge aspect. But probably would get fewer clicks.