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March is Women's History Month!

Why Don't Ants Need A Leader?

Part 1 of the TED Radio Hour episode Getting Organized

About Deborah Gordon's TED Talk

The world's largest ant colony stretches over 3,700 miles. It succeeds, biologist Deborah Gordon says, because no one is in charge. The ants communicate with algorithmic patterns to survive and thrive.

About Deborah Gordon

Deborah Gordon is a professor of biology at Stanford University. She has learned that ant colonies can work without central control by using simple interactions like touching antennae. Gordon is the author of Ants At Work: How An Insect Society is Organized and Ant Encounters: Interaction Networks And Colony Behavior.

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NPR/TED Staff