Sick baby ants volunteer to die
Update: 2025-12-02
Description
If you're a human, the courteous thing to do when you get sick is to isolate yourself from others so that you don't get them sick, too. If you're an adult ant, that same courtesy still applies. But immature ants, or pupae, have a problem: They can't walk. So instead, they send a chemical signal to the rest of their colony requesting they be killed for the greater good. That's according to a new study published today in Nature Communications. Host Carolyn Beeler speaks to lead author Erika Dawson to learn more.
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