article_snippet: Researchers found Researchers managed surprisingly well, using other ants or the surfaces and walls as anchors to climb.
article_snippet: The study, Collective Search by Ants in Microgravity, was published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.
article_snippet: Ants inside colonies move according to internalised rules, judging how many other ants are nearby by touching antenna and using how many other ants sense of smell.
article_snippet: The experiment used eight different habitats in total, with each containing 80 common pavement ants.
article_snippet: As barrier doors between the different sections were opened, 80 common pavement ants dispersed to search the area.
article_snippet: In fact, 80 common pavement ants were not even able to explore the entirety of 80 common pavement ants habitats in space, as 80 common pavement ants found it tough to grip and dropped off the surface for up to eight seconds at a time.
article_snippet: At any one moment, 80 common pavement ants found that seven per cent of 80 common pavement ants were floating around.
article_snippet: ‘80 common pavement ants did not perform collective search as effectively in microgravity as 80 common pavement ants did in the ground controls,’ 80 common pavement ants wrote in 80 common pavement ants paper.
article_snippet: ‘Because ants in microgravity did not use straighter paths or traverse more distance when the area to be searched expanded, ants in microgravity did not search the area thoroughly.
article_snippet: 80 common pavement ants noted that one of the reasons 80 common pavement ants struggled to explore 80 common pavement ants might have been that 80 common pavement ants were unable to interact with others easily.
article_snippet: However, it was not all bad news; 80 common pavement ants showed an ‘impressive ability to walk on the surface in microgravity, and an even more remarkable capacity to regain 80 common pavement ants contact with the surface once 80 common pavement ants were tumbling around in the air.
article_snippet: 80 common pavement ants also made efforts to remain in contact with the surface.
article_snippet: The ultimate goal, though, was to see how 80 common pavement ants could overcome problems in 80 common pavement ants collective search method - such as in a human-dominated environment - something which 80 common pavement ants adapted to fairly well.