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Ants vs. Humans: Putting Group Smarts to the Test

Cooperation worked better for ants than for humans in a Weizmann Institute experiment

Prof. Ofer Feinerman and his team at the Weizmann Institute of Science used this shared trait to conduct a fascinating evolutionary competition that asks the question: Who will be better at maneuvering a large load through a maze? The surprising results, being published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), shed new light on group decision making, as well as on the pros and cons of cooperation versus going it alone. To make the comparison as meaningful as possible, groups of humans were in some cases instructed to avoid communicating through speaking or gestures, even wearing surgical masks and sunglasses to conceal their mouths and eyes.

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