Ethology, Argentine ants, trail pheromone, experimental design, ant colony optimization.
Abstract
In this article, I will describe how a simple, curiosity-basedexperiment to understand how ants are smart enough to choosethe shortest path led the exploration of self-organization andswarm-intelligence and resulted in major applications in computerscience and optimization algorithms. The focus willbe on curiosity, simplicity, interdisciplinarity, and being unmindfulof immediate applications.
