Uploaded December 2019 | Updated September 2026, 14 hours ago
An ant without a sense of smell is an ant that's lost. After creating ants that had been genetically modified to lack a sense of smell, scientists watched them wander away from their colonies, steal food, refuse to mate and fail to tend to eggs — antisocial behavior that contradicts the hive-mind mentality of most ant communities.
It's likely not because of any sociopathic tendencies on the ant's part, but because they've been effectively blinded. Ants use a suite of pheromones to communicate everything from the location of nearby food to when it's time to mate, and without these important signals, they become wandering souls.
Read the full story here: discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/with-gene-editing-ants-could-be-the-new-model-organism
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Credit: New York University School of Medicine
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An ant without a sense of smell is an ant that's lost. After creating ants that had been genetically modified to lack a sense of smell, scientists watched them wander away from their colonies, steal food, refuse to mate and fail to tend to eggs — antisocial behavior that contradicts the hive-mind mentality of most ant communities.
It's likely not because of any sociopathic tendencies on the ant's part, but because they've been effectively blinded. Ants use a suite of pheromones to communicate everything from the location of nearby food to when it's time to mate, and without these important signals, they become wandering souls.
Read the full story here: discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/with-gene-editing-ants-could-be-the-new-model-organism
—
Credit: New York University School of Medicine
—
ABOUT DISCOVER:
Discover is your source for science that matters, makes sense and is a lot of fun, too.
Visit us at: discovermagazine.com
FOLLOW US:
Facebook: facebook.com/DiscoverMag
Twitter: twitter.com/DiscoverMag
Instagram: instagram.com/discover.magazine
SUPPORT US:
Subscribe to Discover: bit.ly/34seAFT
Sign up for our newsletter: discovermagazine.com/newsletter-signup
My Science Shop: myscienceshop.com
STAY CURIOUS!
