Emily Kwong

So it turns out worker ants are paying close attention to the pupae.

That's the stage when juvenile ants are still in their little cocoons.

And it appears that when pupae have an infection like a fungus, they send out a chemical message calling for those worker ants to destroy them.

One of the study authors, Erica Dawson, explained the process to us.

She says first, the worker ants peel off the cocoon.

Yes, that is the dramatic monologue of these infected ants.

Though there is a plot twist.

Huh.

The team looked at pupae that would eventually become queens, like ants that start their own colonies, and they found out two things.

First, that these queen pupae didn't release the signal even when they were infected.

Why not?

Future queens just, they don't signal when they're sick.

They're above the self-sacrifice.

Yes, they are.

And also the infected future queens could fight off the infection on their own.

Support for NPR and the following message come from Freshworks, who believes complexity is the enemy of efficiency.

Stop wrestling with bloated, expensive software.

Uncomplicate with Fresh Service for IT and Freshdesk for customer support.

Learn more at freshworks.com.

Hey, shortwavers, Emily Kwong here.