Ants are in space oh my gosh!  Well at Stanford University they launched an interesting study that not only examines the behavior of ants under different gravitational environments but also encourages more students to get involved in science.

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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