David Hu, Assistant Professor of the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineeirng, is exploring ways a mass of fire ants can act like a fluid or a solid. It’s the first time this duality had been observed in a group of living things. The research, recently reported on by The New York Times, could have practical implications for self-assembling robots, which build themselves out of smaller bits and for self-healing materials.
"To flow, they moved around, rearranging themselves in the group, acting like a thick fluid. When the aggregation struggled to keep its shape, the ants clung to each other, acting like an elastic solid — rubber for example."
Read the full article and watch a video on The New York Times