they took a rocket to the space station…

This is an interesting experiment with ants that most poeple do not know about.  Apparently at Stanford University they initiated an experiment that examines ant behavior under different gravitational environments.  In addition it also encourages more students to get involved in science and space related studies.  Here is a brief intro to this bizarre experiment:

Last year, eight groups of ants flew to the International Space Station, boosted by a rocket and the curiosity of Stanford University biologist Deborah M. Gordon, who studies collective behavior. Results from that mission, recently published in the open-access journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, showed that the collective search behavior of ants in microgravity had some interesting twists. Now Gordon is inviting high school students to collaborate in further research on collective search by ants on Earth, through a new “citizen science” lesson plan. Younger students could try it too.

Who knew there were ants on the International Space Station?

Find out how the gravity affected the ants on the next page

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