The Lab With Brad

The Lab With Brad


Ep 231: Intelligent insects?

August 15, 2019

Intelligent insects?

Building homes, farming crops, herding animals for milk and meat, and using tools—some of the insects do some impressively clever things. Join us as we examine the smartest of the bugs, and what might have made them that way.

Here’s an interview with someone who studies insects and their intelligence.

Uncovering the intelligence of insects

Here’s a link about how ants have domesticated other species.

Ant Farm: These Insect Cowboys Harvest, Herd and Milk

And here’s an article about ants using tools.

Ants craft tiny sponges to dip into honey and carry it home

Here’s an article about the evolution of eusocial organization.

Eusocial Insect Evolution

And here’s a video about the naked mole rat, one of only two known eusocial mammals.

Why Is the Naked Mole Rat So Weird?

Here are links to Phil’s news stories.

Blinking eye-on-a-chip used for disease modeling and drug testing

Fear of predators causes PTSD-like changes in brains of wild animals