[email protected]
Deborah Gordon
Ecologist
Ecologist Deborah M. Gordon has learned that ant colonies can work without central control by using simple interactions like how often the insects touch antennae. Contrary to the notion that colonies are organized by efficient ants, she has instead discovered that evolution has produced “noisy” systems that tolerate accident and respond flexibly to the environment. When conditions are tough, natural selection favors colonies that conserve resources.
Her studies of ant colonies have led her and her Stanford colleagues to the discovery of the “Anternet,” which regulates foraging in ants in the same way the internet regulates data traffic. But as she said to Wired in 2013, "Insect behavior mimicking human networks ... is actually not what’s most interesting about ant networks. What’s far more interesting are the parallels in the other direction: What have the ants worked out that we humans haven’t thought of yet?" Her latest exploration: How do ants behave in space?
Related Speakers View all
Ashley J. Tellis
Senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for Inter...
|
|
Lora Saalman
Beijing-based associate in the Nuclear Policy Progra...
|
|
Kevin Jianjun Tu
Senior associate in the Carnegie Energy and Climate ...
|
|
David Burwell
Director of the Energy and Climate Program at the Ca...
|
|
Alexei Arbatov
Academician and professor of the Academy of Defense,...
|
|
Nikolay Petrov
Scholar-In-Residence Society And Regions Program Car...
|
|
Panmao Zhai
Climatologist, Secretary General of Chinese Meteorol...
|
|
Bob Kopp
Climate Scientist, Geobiologist & Climate Policy Sch...
|
|
Gabrielle Walker
Climate Change Solutioneer; Founder of Climate Advis...
|
|
Joseph Romm
Author, Blogger, Physicist & Climate Expert
|
|
Renat Heuberger
Chief Executive Officer & Deputy Chairman, South Pol...
|
|
David Crane
Strategic Advisor Executive at Pegasus Capital Advis...
|
|
Peter Calthorpe
Architect, Urban Designer & Urban Planner; Author of...
|
|
Michael D. Swaine
Senior Associate Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment
|
|
Muthiah Alagappa
A nonresident senior associate in the Asia Program a...
|
|
Iskander Rehman
An associate in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Ca...
|
|
Mark Hibbs
Senior associate in Carnegie's Nuclear Policy Progra...
|
|
Pierre Goldschmidt
A nonresident senior associate at the Carnegie Endow...
|
|
Toby Dalton
The deputy director of the Nuclear Policy Program at...
|
|
Peter Topychkanov
An associate in the Carnegie Moscow Center’s Nonprol...
|