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41 Comments
- noahhoward, on 07/20/2009, -0/+23Ants sometimes climb over each other... keep an eye on those planes.
- andyd273, on 07/20/2009, -1/+11Darn, you beat me to it
you could also throw some sugar onto the runway and watch them all crash together... - badenglishihave, on 07/20/2009, -1/+10They should study Transformers instead. Turning all of the planes into cars would solve a lot of taxiing problems.
- mangycarface, on 07/20/2009, -1/+7Before this, they studied sardines to gauge how to treat their passengers on board the planes
- mg101153, on 07/20/2009, -2/+7Nature is always better than us it seems.
- Junkyarddawg, on 07/20/2009, -0/+4IDGI. How does this work? If it's just a case of keeping track of the availability of resources, then how is it "swarm intelligence"? Serious question.
- bradleyland, on 07/20/2009, -0/+4"Swarm intelligence" implies that the decisions required to maintain order happen in a distributed manner, rather than coming from a central director.
- serif69, on 07/20/2009, -0/+4*squish*
- aschmack, on 07/20/2009, -0/+4http://pbfcomics.com/archive_b/PBF156-Disassemble. ...
- JuanBSU, on 07/20/2009, -0/+4Hi. You must be new here. We don't actually do "current" news here on Digg.
- tedc, on 07/20/2009, -0/+3FTA: "If ants become isolated from their group, they end up running around in circles, following their own pheromone trail until they die of exhaustion."
I suppose if enough planes do this, it will indeed reduce the air traffic bottlenecks for those that remain. - Arkyll, on 07/21/2009, -0/+2The only difference between ants and humans is, humans destroy everything we touch in the environment.
- sndream, on 07/20/2009, -0/+2Oh, that's why. I though it's weird when the planes are humping each other.
- BIOHazard87, on 07/20/2009, -0/+2These comments are garbage.
- rabidbob, on 07/20/2009, -0/+2Yeah, I'm not sure they're selling it that well ...
" If ants become isolated from their group, they end up running around in circles, following their own pheromone trail until they die of exhaustion." - anexanhume, on 07/20/2009, -0/+2All was well until that fateful day when someone decided to picnic on the runway.
- C0MF0RTABLYnumb, on 07/20/2009, -1/+3Are we not part of nature?
- donte, on 07/20/2009, -1/+2Even dated at April 1, 2008 the idea of using swarm intelligence of ants to approximate ideal flow/path is ridiculously old news.
- inactive, on 07/20/2009, -1/+2it's a fact.
- thosewithnoeyes, on 07/20/2009, -1/+2Everything humans have ever needed has been found in nature, or can be crafted from existing substances. All humans need to do is to FIND it.
- WaCkYmAk, on 07/20/2009, -0/+1I for one, welcome our insect overlords.
- donte, on 07/20/2009, -0/+1I've accepted the fact that diggers will post really old stuff. I'm more commenting on the fact that a site called "Science Daily" is reporting on a story of a computing technique that was 20 years old and passing it off as new news.
- rob132, on 07/20/2009, -0/+1IS HEX acting up again?
+++ OUT OF CHEESE ERROR
+++ BEGIN FROM START - eMximeR, on 07/20/2009, -0/+1I'd like anything that fixes being stuck on the taxiway for an hour
- mdjohnson1, on 07/20/2009, -0/+1An ant can lift 400% of his / her body weight. This should allow for carry on luggage to be much larger and heavier, thusly reducing time and congestion at the baggage check. This is an unexpected variance that should be accounted for in this new exciting world of ant owned and operated airlines.
- AgmLauncher, on 07/20/2009, -0/+1Taxiway traffic problems aren't nearly as bad as trying to get off a plane from row 34....
If people left in columns rather than row by row, it would be faster. - Khast, on 07/20/2009, -0/+1Well, I guess that would be a good thing, right? The airplanes could run on sugar, which would be a cheaper fuel.
- hellengineer, on 07/20/2009, -0/+1It's called the ant colony problem, a topic in artificial intelligence, or for the non-geek it's another name for common sense V 2.01
- roddack, on 07/20/2009, -0/+1Buying things at wal-mart doesn't make one worthless or lazy. In fact it should be taken as an indicator that mankind has virtually moved beyond from a state of pure survival.
- brainflakes, on 07/20/2009, -0/+1Thanks ants, thants.
- Bichengyi, on 07/20/2009, -0/+0Dugg for that guy's hair in the video!
- flagg85, on 07/20/2009, -1/+1I remember reading about this in the early 90's it was called Ant colony optimization.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant_colony_optimizati ... - roddack, on 07/20/2009, -2/+2Nature is nothing but a state of war in which life fights for survival and only a tiny minority survives long enough to produces its next generation.
- 4AntiStupid, on 07/20/2009, -0/+0I don't know if swarm theory can really apply well to such a small number of individuals. Usually it's used in cases where there's tens of thousands to millions of individuals.
- inactive, on 07/20/2009, -1/+0Most people would rather buy it at wal-mart because they're lazy and worthless.
- gimmeagob, on 07/20/2009, -1/+0I read the title thinking it said "stimulate"... now THAT would've been one hell of a scientific feat.
- anonymous10, on 07/20/2009, -1/+0"Buying the ant farm" sounds like a pretty harmless euphemism, I guess.
- TexMexRex, on 07/20/2009, -2/+0This why flights are never late now.
- dirtyfrog, on 07/20/2009, -4/+3The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching one by one,
The little one stops to suck his thumb
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain - inactive, on 07/20/2009, -2/+0We are abominations of nature because we think we're so smart and can improve upon everything. We shall be rudely awakened.
- inactive, on 07/20/2009, -5/+0thanks for clarifying at the end, i thought it was an unserious question
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