Some big discoveries come from small things, such as black garden ants may hold the architectural and social keys to preventing the next pandemic.

According to NPR, new research from the University of Bristol, published in Science, showed that when exposed to a pathogen, black garden ant colonies alter their nest construction patterns to prevent its spread. This includes increasing the distance between entrances and vulnerable groups to reduce disease transmission.

A 2018 study by the same group demonstrated how ants respond socially to a lethal fungus. Infected ant workers quickly self-isolated to prevent contamination, while healthy ants increased their distance from those at risk of contracting a disease, a form of proactive social distancing. The researchers wondered if ants were also making larger changes by altering their complex nests of hundreds of interconnected chambers and tunnels.

For the new research, they allowed small ant colonies one day to build their nests and then introduced individual fungal-infected ants to half of them. Noninvasive CT scans revealed the nests' three-dimensional structures over time.

Infected nests became more compartmentalized and less interconnected. Entrances were spaced farther apart, interactions between entering and exiting ants decreased, and travel routes lengthened, helping to insulate healthy ants from infected ones.

These changes appeared to lower disease transmission, aligning with the social behavior of self-isolation but on a different level.

The social and architectural changes work together to provide "very effective protection," said Nathalie Stroeymeyt, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Bristol, per NPR. "It's a first demonstration of a social species outside of humans who actively modifies the spatial structure of the environment in the face of a threat. That I find absolutely fascinating."

Instead of relying solely on individual immune systems, ants collaborate to minimize disease spread and defend their colonies.

This strategy could benefit humans as diseases, from COVID-19 to valley fever, expand in range. With warming climates contributing to increased disease spread, it's crucial that humans adapt to their environments, as these ants do.

Some of the same principles of ant nests could be applied to the design of public spaces to help humans prevent disease spread as well. Features like spaced-out and purpose-built entrances, easily silo-able rooms and wings, and protections for more vulnerable populations could be crucial for prevention.

"We can learn from social insects, which have evolved over millions of years, to find strategies that balance this protection against epidemics without completely disrupting the functioning of the entire colony," Stroeymeyt said, per NPR.

But that will take time. She said that the research's results are too "ant-like" for direct application today but may inform architectural immunity for humans in the future.

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