{"593448":{"#nid":"593448","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Ants Build Sinking Eiffel Towers When Trying to Escape","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen fire ants run into tall obstructions while looking for food or trying to escape, they \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/news.gatech.edu\/features\/sinking-ant-towers\u0022\u003Euse their bodies to construct Eiffel Tower-looking structures\u003C\/a\u003E. A new study from the College of Engineering and College of Sciences suggests that the insects build these structures without a leader or coordinated effort. Each ant wanders around aimlessly, adhering to a certain set of rules, until it unknowingly participates in the construction of a tower several inches tall.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe tower study is a follow-up to the group\u0026rsquo;s 2014 \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.news.gatech.edu\/2014\/06\/12\/going-inside-ant-raft\u0022\u003Eant raft research\u003C\/a\u003E, which examined how the insects link their bodies in order to build waterproof structures that stay afloat for months. The ants march along until they come to an open space \u0026mdash; the edge of the raft \u0026mdash; then settle in to become a building block of the raft.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThey do the same thing for the towers, searching for an empty spot like a car in a crowded parking lot. Once an individual ant finds one, typically at the top of the tower, she stops and braces for more ants to climb on top and go vertical.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/news.gatech.edu\/features\/sinking-ant-towers\u0022\u003ELearn more about how they do it, why the towers are always sinking and why scientists and engineers should care about ant movements. \u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Structure created because ants act like cars in crowded parking lot"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFire ants \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=NrfeI7Er9gE\u0026amp;t=3s\u0022\u003Euse their bodies to construct Eiffel Tower-looking structures\u003C\/a\u003E when they run into a tall obstruction while looking for food or escaping to new areas. A new study suggests that they build these structures without a leader or coordinated effort. Each ant wanders around aimlessly, adhering to a certain set of rules, until it unknowingly participates in the construction of a tower several inches tall.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Ants build Eiffel-Tower looking structures, despite having no leader or coordinated plan."}],"uid":"27560","created_gmt":"2017-07-11 20:32:41","changed_gmt":"2017-07-11 23:02:28","author":"Jason Maderer","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-07-11T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2017-07-11T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"593446":{"id":"593446","type":"image","title":"Ant collage","body":null,"created":"1499804435","gmt_created":"2017-07-11 20:20:35","changed":"1499814161","gmt_changed":"2017-07-11 23:02:41","alt":"Ant towers","file":{"fid":"226219","name":"three towers super.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/three%20towers%20super.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/three%20towers%20super.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":272261,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/three%20towers%20super.jpg?itok=4XJNjzkg"}}},"media_ids":["593446"],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"},{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"},{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1237","name":"College of Engineering"},{"id":"108731","name":"School of Mechanical Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"20471","name":"Ants"},{"id":"109","name":"Georgia Tech"},{"id":"297","name":"David Hu"},{"id":"174903","name":"ant towers"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39471","name":"Materials"},{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71911","name":"Earth and Environment"},{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nNational Media Relations\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nmaderer@gatech.edu\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n404-660-2926\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["maderer@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}