SCIENCE IN THE NEWS DAILY

Chemicals Found that Turn Ants into Warriors

from the San Francisco Chronicle

A research team of UC scientists has decoded the words in the secret chemical language of Argentine ants - a discovery that could lead to an environmentally benign pesticide against the insects that march into Bay Area homes every time the weather turns cold or wet.

The researchers found special signaling chemicals on the bodies of one aggressive group of the ants, and then synthesized the chemicals to induce peaceable members of the same species to turn them into highly aggressive beasts, perhaps leading them to turn on each other.

The experiments with the hydrocarbons that trigger the ants' silent battle calls cost tens of thousands of dollars, and the difficult experiments led by UC Berkeley evolutionary biologist Neil D. Tsutsui, often risked failure before they succeeded.