Veteran GeekOlogy readers (you can identify them by their decoder rings!) will know that I'm a pretty big fan of science. That probably has more to do with Bill Nye than I'd like to admit, but--actually, you know what, no. I have no problem admitting it. Bill Nye is, in short, the man. Today, however, science has let me down big time. There are some experiments that scientists familiar with sci-fi are morally obligated to refuse. Cure for (insert terrible disease here) that's powerful, but risky? It'll kick-start the zombie apocalypse. Brain experiments on apes? Better get used to a lifetime of simian servitude. Giant ants? That seems like a pretty obvious subject to avoid, but you can't stop the researchers at Canada's McGill University. They've just figured out how to create "supersoldier" ants with oversized heads (and mandibles!) by unlocking a throwback gene through application of a specific hormone.
The ancestors of the ants in question used their enlarged heads to defend the nest and crack open tough seeds retrieved by more minor workers. When your head is a giant weapon, it's pretty handy for plugging up entrances, halting army ant assaults, and messing up other insects with mandible-fu. Whether the supersoldier ants can throw shields like boomerangs has yet to be determined.
The McGill researchers were inspired to investigate the supersoldier triggers when eight of the big-headed ants showed up seemingly at random in (gulp) Long Island, NY. Considered the "Barnum and Bailey of evolution" (think humans with tails, or chickens with teeth or whatever) these guys were accidental expressions of an ancestral trait that had mostly disappeared. The takeaway of the McGill experiment is that researchers were able to switch on gene connected to a long-absent physical characteristic, which is pretty cool. Still, viewing this story in paranoid geek-o-vision is a wee bit distressing. The official word:
“What we are showing for the first time is there is this ancestral potential sitting there, and when poked by the environment it can really unleash this potential that can power evolution,” said the study’s senior researcher, Ehab Abouheif.
The Huffington Post has more info on the little critters. Hopefully, if we all stay informed about New York's supersoldier ants, we'll be prepared when an experiment goes awry, an ant colony develops sentience, and the Formic Wars begin.
Also, this.
Cutest monstrosity ever!
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