TED2014
Deborah Gordon: What ants teach us about the brain, cancer and the Internet
Deborah Gordon: Myrer kan lære os noget om hjernen, kræft og internettet.
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Økologen Deborah Gordon studerer myrer overalt hvor hun finder dem, i ørkenen, i troperne, i sit køkken... I dette fascinerende foredrag forklarer hun sin besættelse af insekter som de fleste af os med glæde slår ihjel uden at tænke over det. Hun diskuterer hvordan myrernes levevis er en nyttig model som kan lære os noget om mange andre emner, inklusiv sygdom, teknologi og den menneskelige hjerne.
Deborah Gordon - Ecologist
By studying how ant colonies work without any one leader, Deborah Gordon has identified striking similarities in how ant colonies, brains, cells and computer networks regulate themselves. Full bio
By studying how ant colonies work without any one leader, Deborah Gordon has identified striking similarities in how ant colonies, brains, cells and computer networks regulate themselves. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:13
I study ants
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Jeg studerer myrer
00:14
in the desert, in the tropical forest
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i ørkenen, i tropisk skov,
00:18
and in my kitchen,
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og i mit køkken
00:19
and in the hills around Silicon Valley where I live.
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og i bakkerne omkring Silicon Valley hvor jeg bor.
00:23
I've recently realized that ants
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Jeg har fornylig opdaget at myrer
00:25
are using interactions differently
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kommunikerer på forskellige måder
00:27
in different environments,
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i forskellige miljøer,
00:29
and that got me thinking
that we could learn from this
that we could learn from this
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og jeg tænkte at det kan lære os
00:31
about other systems,
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noget om andre systemer,
00:32
like brains and data networks that we engineer,
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som hjerner og de datanetværk vi bygger,
00:38
and even cancer.
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og selv kræft.
00:41
So what all these systems have in common
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Det alle disse systemer har til fælles
00:43
is that there's no central control.
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er at de har ingen central kontrol.
00:45
An ant colony consists of sterile female workers --
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Et myresamfund består af sterile arbejderhunner,
00:49
those are the ants you see walking around —
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det er dem man ser går omkring,
00:52
and then one or more reproductive females
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og en eller flere frugtbare hunner
00:54
who just lay the eggs.
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som bare lægger æg.
00:56
They don't give any instructions.
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De giver ingen ordrer.
00:58
Even though they're called queens,
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Selvom de kaldes dronninger,
01:00
they don't tell anybody what to do.
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bestemmer de ikke hvad andre skal gøre.
01:02
So in an ant colony, there's no one in charge,
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I en myretue er der ingen som styrer,
01:05
and all systems like this without central control
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og alle systemer uden central styring
01:08
are regulated using very simple interactions.
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virker ved hjælp af simpel kommunikation.
01:12
Ants interact using smell.
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Myrer kommunikerer med lugte.
01:15
They smell with their antennae,
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De lugter med deres følehorn,
01:17
and they interact with their antennae,
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og kommunikerer med dem,
01:20
so when one ant touches another with its antennae,
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så når en myre rører en anden med følehornene
01:23
it can tell, for example, if the other ant
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kan den lugte om den anden myre
01:24
is a nestmate
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er fra samme tue
01:26
and what task that other ant has been doing.
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og hvilken opgave den anden har gjort.
01:30
So here you see a lot of ants moving around
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Her ser du en masse myrer kravle rundt
01:33
and interacting in a lab arena
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og kommunikere i en boks i laboratoriet
01:35
that's connected by tubes to two other arenas.
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som er forbundet til andre bokse med rør.
01:39
So when one ant meets another,
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Når myrer møder hinanden
01:41
it doesn't matter which ant it meets,
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er det lige meget hvem de møder,
01:43
and they're actually not transmitting
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de udveksler ikke nogen form for
01:45
any kind of complicated signal or message.
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kompliceret signal eller besked.
01:49
All that matters to the ant is the rate
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Det eneste som betyder noget
01:51
at which it meets other ants.
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er hvor hyppigt de møder hinanden.
01:54
And all of these interactions, taken together,
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Og al kommunikationen mellem dem
01:56
produce a network.
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producerer et netværk.
01:59
So this is the network of the ants
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Så dette er netværket for de myrer
02:01
that you just saw moving around in the arena,
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vi lige har set bevæge sig rundt i boksen,
02:04
and it's this constantly shifting network
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Og dette netværk i konstant forandring
02:07
that produces the behavior of the colony,
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er det som skaber koloniens adfærd,
02:10
like whether all the ants are hiding inside the nest,
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f.eks. om alle myrerne gemmer sig i boet,
02:12
or how many are going out to forage.
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eller hvor mange som er ude at samle føde.
02:15
A brain actually works in the same way,
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En hjerne fungerer faktisk på samme måde,
02:17
but what's great about ants is
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men det gode med myrer er
02:18
that you can see the whole network as it happens.
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at man kan se hele netværket mens det sker.
02:23
There are more than 12,000 species of ants,
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Der er over 12.000 myrearter
02:26
in every conceivable environment,
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i alle tænkelige miljøer
02:29
and they're using interactions differently
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og de kommunikerer på forskellige måder
02:31
to meet different environmental challenges.
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afhængig af hvert miljøs udfordringer.
02:34
So one important environmental challenge
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En vigtig miljømæssig udfordring
02:36
that every system has to deal with
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som ethvert system må håndtere
02:38
is operating costs, just what it takes
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er driftsomkostninger, altså det det koster
02:40
to run the system.
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at drive systemet.
02:42
And another environmental challenge is resources,
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Og en anden udfordring er ressourcer,
02:45
finding them and collecting them.
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at finde dem og samle dem ind.
02:47
In the desert, operating costs are high
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I ørkenen er driftsomkostningerne store
02:50
because water is scarce,
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fordi vand er sparsomt,
02:52
and the seed-eating ants that I study in the desert
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og de frø-ædende myrer jeg studerer i ørkenen
02:54
have to spend water to get water.
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må forbruge vand for at finde vand.
02:57
So an ant outside foraging,
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Så en myre ude for at samle mad
02:59
searching for seeds in the hot sun,
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som leder efter frø i solen
03:01
just loses water into the air.
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mister vand ud i luften.
03:03
But the colony gets its water
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Men kolonien får sit vand
03:05
by metabolizing the fats out of the seeds
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ved at fordøje fedtet i frøene
03:07
that they eat.
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som de spiser.
03:09
So in this environment, interactions are used
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I dette miljø bruges kommunikation
03:12
to activate foraging.
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til at aktivere indsamling af føde.
03:14
An outgoing forager doesn't go out unless
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En myre på vej ud, går ikke før
03:16
it gets enough interactions with returning foragers,
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den får nok signaler fra myrer på vej hjem
03:18
and what you see are the returning foragers
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og vi ser at myrer som kommer hjem
03:20
going into the tunnel, into the nest,
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går ind i gangen, ind i tuen,
03:22
and meeting outgoing foragers on their way out.
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og møder andre myrer på vej ud.
03:25
This makes sense for the ant colony,
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Dette giver mening for et myresamfund
03:26
because the more food there is out there,
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fordi jo mere mad der er udenfor,
03:29
the more quickly the foragers find it,
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jo hurtigere finder myrene den,
03:31
the faster they come back,
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og jo hurtigere kommer de tilbage,
03:32
and the more foragers they send out.
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og sender andre myrer ud.
03:35
The system works to stay stopped,
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Systemet virker ved at holde sig i ro
03:37
unless something positive happens.
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indtil noget positivt opstår.
03:39
So interactions function to activate foragers.
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Så kommunikationen aktiverer fødeindsamlerne.
03:43
And we've been studying
the evolution of this system.
the evolution of this system.
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Vi har studeret evolutionen af dette system.
03:46
First of all, there's variation.
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For det første er der variation.
03:47
It turns out that colonies are different.
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Det viser sig at kolonier er forskellige.
03:50
On dry days, some colonies forage less,
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På tørre dage samler nogle kolonier mindre mad,
03:52
so colonies are different in how
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så kolonier har forskellige
03:54
they manage this trade-off
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prioriteringer mellem
03:55
between spending water to search for seeds
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at bruge vand for at samle føde
03:58
and getting water back in the form of seeds.
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og få vand tilbage i form af frø.
04:02
And we're trying to understand why
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Vi prøver at forstå hvorfor
04:03
some colonies forage less than others
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nogle kolonier samler mindre føde end andre
04:05
by thinking about ants as neurons,
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ved at sammenligne myrer med neuroner
04:08
using models from neuroscience.
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ved hjælp af modeller fra neurovidenskab.
04:10
So just as a neuron adds up its stimulation
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En neuron tager summen af alle input
04:13
from other neurons to decide whether to fire,
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fra andre neuroner for at afgøre om den skal transmittere.
04:15
an ant adds up its stimulation from other ants
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En myre tager også summen af input fra andre
04:18
to decide whether to forage.
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når den skal afgøre om den skal ud at lede.
04:20
And what we're looking for is whether there might be
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Og vi ser efter om der kunne være
04:21
small differences among colonies
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små forskelle mellem kolonierne
04:23
in how many interactions each ant needs
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på hvor mange input hver myre behøver
04:27
before it's willing to go out and forage,
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før den er klar til at gå ud og lede,
04:29
because a colony like that would forage less.
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fordi disse kolonier ville samle mindre føde.
04:32
And this raises an analogous question about brains.
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Og vi kan spørge det samme om hjerner.
04:35
We talk about the brain,
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Vi snakker om hjernen
04:37
but of course every brain is slightly different,
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men hver hjerne er lidt forskellig
04:40
and maybe there are some individuals
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og måske er der nogle mennesker
04:41
or some conditions
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eller nogle omstændigheder
04:42
in which the electrical properties of neurons are such
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hvor neuronernes elektriske egenskaber
04:46
that they require more stimulus to fire,
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kræver mere stimulering for at transmittere
04:50
and that would lead to differences in brain function.
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og det ville give forskellig hjernefunktion.
04:53
So in order to ask evolutionary questions,
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For at stille spørgsmål om evolution
04:56
we need to know about reproductive success.
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må vi kende forplantningens succes.
04:58
This is a map of the study site
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Dette er et kort over området
05:01
where I have been tracking this population
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hvor jeg har fulgt en population
05:03
of harvester ant colonies for 28 years,
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af myrekolonier i 28 år,
05:06
which is about as long as a colony lives.
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hvilket er en kolonis levetid.
05:09
Each symbol is a colony,
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Hvert symbol er en koloni
05:11
and the size of the symbol is
how many offspring it had,
how many offspring it had,
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og størrelsen er antal efterkommere den har.
05:14
because we were able to use genetic variation
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Vi kan nemlig bruge genetisk variation
05:16
to match up parent and offspring colonies,
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til at matche kolonier og deres aflæggere,
05:19
that is, to figure out which colonies
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altså finde hvilke kolonier
05:22
were founded by a daughter queen
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der er grundlagt af døtre
05:24
produced by which parent colony.
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af hvilke moderkolonier.
05:26
And this was amazing for me, after all these years,
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Og det var utroligt for mig, efter alle de år
05:28
to find out, for example, that colony 154,
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at opdage at f.eks. koloni 154
05:31
whom I've known well for many years,
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som jeg har kendt godt i mange år
05:33
is a great-grandmother.
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er en oldemor-koloni.
05:35
Here's her daughter colony,
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Her er dens datterkoloni,
05:37
here's her granddaughter colony,
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denne koloni er 3. generation
05:40
and these are her great-granddaughter colonies.
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og disse er 4. generationskolonier.
05:42
And by doing this, I was able to learn
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På den måde kunne jeg lære
05:44
that offspring colonies resemble parent colonies
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at efterkommere ligner deres ophav
05:47
in their decisions about which days are so hot
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i måden de beslutter om det er for varmt
05:49
that they don't forage,
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til at søge føde.
05:51
and the offspring of parent colonies
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Kolonier og deres efterkommere
05:53
live so far from each other that the ants never meet,
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er så langt fra hinanden at myrerne aldrig mødes
05:56
so the ants of the offspring colony
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så myrerne i en koloni
05:58
can't be learning this from the parent colony.
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kan ikke have lært det af moderkolonien.
06:00
And so our next step is to look
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Næste skridt er så at undersøge
06:02
for the genetic variation
underlying this resemblance.
underlying this resemblance.
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den genetiske variation bagved ligheden.
06:07
So then I was able to ask, okay, who's doing better?
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Jeg spurgte, okay, hvem klarer sig bedst?
06:11
Over the time of the study,
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I løbet af den periode vi har forsket
06:12
and especially in the past 10 years,
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og særlig de sidste 10 år
06:14
there's been a very severe and deepening drought
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har der været en alvorlig tørke
06:17
in the Southwestern U.S.,
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i det sydvestlige USA
06:19
and it turns out that the
colonies that conserve water,
colonies that conserve water,
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og det har vist sig at kolonier som sparer vand,
06:22
that stay in when it's really hot outside,
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som holder sig indendørs når det er varmt
06:27
and thus sacrifice getting as much food as possible,
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og dermed ofrer at få mest mulig føde,
06:29
are the ones more likely to have offspring colonies.
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er de kolonier som formerer sig mest.
06:32
So all this time, I thought that colony 154
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Så jeg troede hele tiden at koloni 154
06:35
was a loser, because on really dry days,
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var en taber, fordi på meget varme dage
06:37
there'd be just this trickle of foraging,
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var kun enkelte ude for at samle føde,
06:39
while the other colonies were out
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mens de andre kolonier var ude
06:41
foraging, getting lots of food,
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og samle masser af føde,
06:43
but in fact, colony 154 is a huge success.
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men i virkeligheden er koloni 154 en stor succes.
06:46
She's a matriarch.
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Hun er en matriark.
06:47
She's one of the rare great-grandmothers on the site.
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Hun er en af de få oldemødre på stedet.
06:50
To my knowledge, this is the first time
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Så vidt jeg ved er det første gang
06:53
that we've been able to track
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man har kunnet følge med på
06:55
the ongoing evolution of collective behavior
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evolutionen af kollektiv adfærd
06:58
in a natural population of animals
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i en naturlig population af dyr
07:00
and find out what's actually working best.
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og finde ud af hvad der virker bedst.
07:04
Now, the Internet uses an algorithm
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Internettet bruger en algoritme
07:07
to regulate the flow of data
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til at styre strømmen af data
07:10
that's very similar to the one
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som ligner den algoritme
07:12
that the harvester ants are using to regulate
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myrer bruger til at styre
07:14
the flow of foragers.
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strømmen af myrer der samler føde.
07:16
And guess what we call this analogy?
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Og gæt hvad vi kalder denne analogi:
Anternettet er her.
07:19
The anternet is coming.
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07:21
(Applause)
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(Applaus)
07:23
So data doesn't leave the source computer
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Data forlader ikke en afsender
07:26
unless it gets a signal that there's enough bandwidth
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medmindre den får signal om nok båndbredde
07:29
for it to travel on.
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til at sende datamængden på.
07:32
In the early days of the Internet,
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I internettets barndom
07:33
when operating costs were really high
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da driftsomkostningerne var høje
07:35
and it was really important not to lose any data,
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og det var vigtigt ikke at miste data
07:38
then the system was set up for interactions
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da var systemet sat op med signaler
07:41
to activate the flow of data.
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som kan aktivere en strøm af data.
07:44
It's interesting that the ants are using an algorithm
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Det er interessant at myrer bruger en algoritme
07:46
that's so similar to the one that we recently invented,
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som ligner den vi mennesker har opfundet,
07:50
but this is only one of a handful of ant algorithms
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men dette er bare en af nogle få myrealgoritmer
07:53
that we know about,
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vi kender til,
07:54
and ants have had 130 million years
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og myrer har haft 130 millioner år
07:58
to evolve a lot of good ones,
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til at udvikle mange gode algoritmer,
08:00
and I think it's very likely
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og jeg tror det er sandsynligt
08:01
that some of the other 12,000 species
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at nogle af de andre 12.000 arter
08:04
are going to have interesting algorithms
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har nogle interessante algoritmer
08:06
for data networks
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for datanetværk
08:07
that we haven't even thought of yet.
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som vi ikke har tænkt på endnu.
08:10
So what happens when operating costs are low?
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Hvad sker der hvis driftsomkostningerne er lave?
08:13
Operating costs are low in the tropics,
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Omkostningerne er lave i troperne
08:15
because it's very humid, and it's easy for the ants
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fordi luften er fugtig og det er let for myrerne
08:17
to be outside walking around.
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at gå rundt udendørs.
08:20
But the ants are so abundant
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Men der er så mange myrer
08:22
and diverse in the tropics
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og diversiteten er stor i troperne
08:23
that there's a lot of competition.
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så der er stor konkurrence.
08:26
Whatever resource one species is using,
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Hvis en art bruger en ressource
08:28
another species is likely to be using that
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er der sikkert en anden art der også bruger den
08:31
at the same time.
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på samme tid.
08:33
So in this environment, interactions are used
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I dette miljø bruges kommunikation
08:36
in the opposite way.
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til det modsatte.
08:38
The system keeps going
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Systemet arbejder hele tiden
08:39
unless something negative happens,
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indtil noget negativt sker,
08:41
and one species that I study makes circuits
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og en art jeg undersøgte laver kredsløb
08:43
in the trees of foraging ants
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af myrer rundt i træerne
08:45
going from the nest to a food source and back,
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fra boet til fødekilderne og tilbage igen
08:48
just round and round,
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de går rundt og rundt
08:50
unless something negative happens,
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medmindre der sker noget negativt
08:51
like an interaction
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som f.eks. et møde med
08:53
with ants of another species.
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myrer af en anden art.
08:55
So here's an example of ant security.
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Her er et eksempel på myresikkerhed.
08:58
In the middle, there's an ant
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I midten er der en myre
09:00
plugging the nest entrance with its head
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som lukker indgangen til boet med sit hovede
09:03
in response to interactions with another species.
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som reaktion på et møde med en anden art.
09:06
Those are the little ones running around
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Det er de små som løber rundt
09:07
with their abdomens up in the air.
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med deres maver op i luften.
09:10
But as soon as the threat is passed,
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Men så snart faren er ovre
09:12
the entrance is open again,
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åbner indgangen igen,
09:15
and maybe there are situations
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og måske er der situationer
09:17
in computer security
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indenfor computersikkerhed
09:18
where operating costs are low enough
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hvis driftsomkostninger er lave nok
09:20
that we could just block access temporarily
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hvor vi bare kan blokere adgangen midlertidigt
09:23
in response to an immediate threat,
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i respons til en trussel
09:25
and then open it again,
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og så åbne igen,
09:27
instead of trying to build
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i stedet for at bygge
09:29
a permanent firewall or fortress.
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en permanent brandmur eller en fæstning.
09:33
So another environmental challenge
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En anden udfordring i et miljø
09:35
that all systems have to deal with
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som alle systemer står overfor
09:36
is resources, finding and collecting them.
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er ressourcer og at skaffe dem.
For at klare dette løser myrer problemet
09:42
And to do this, ants solve the problem
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09:44
of collective search,
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at søge kollektivt
09:45
and this is a problem that's of great interest
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og dette problem har stor interesse
09:46
right now in robotics,
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indenfor robotteknologi
09:48
because we've understood that,
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fordi vi har forstået at
09:50
rather than sending a single,
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i stedet for at sende en enkelt
09:51
sophisticated, expensive robot out
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sofistikeret og dyr robot ud
09:55
to explore another planet
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for at udforske en anden planet
09:56
or to search a burning building,
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eller for at gennemsøge en brændende bygning,
09:59
that instead, it may be more effective
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kan det være mere effektivt
10:01
to get a group of cheaper robots
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at bruge en gruppe af billige robotter
10:06
exchanging only minimal information,
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som udveksler minimal information,
10:08
and that's the way that ants do it.
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og det er sådan myrer gør det.
10:11
So the invasive Argentine ant
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Den invasive argentinske myre
10:13
makes expandable search networks.
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laver udvidbare søgenetværk.
10:15
They're good at dealing with the main problem
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De er gode til at løse hovedproblemet
10:17
of collective search,
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i kollektiv søgning,
10:19
which is the trade-off between
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som er valget mellem
10:21
searching very thoroughly
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at søge meget grundigt
10:23
and covering a lot of ground.
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1997
eller dække et stort område.
10:25
And what they do is,
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Det de gør er
10:25
when there are many ants in a small space,
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at når mange myrer er tilstede i et lille område
10:28
then each one can search very thoroughly
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kan hver af dem søge grundigt
10:30
because there will be another ant nearby
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fordi der vil være en anden myre i nærheden
10:32
searching over there,
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som søger der
10:33
but when there are a few ants
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men når der er få myrer
10:35
in a large space,
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på et stort område
10:37
then they need to stretch out their paths
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må de strække deres stier
10:39
to cover more ground.
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for at dække et større område.
10:41
I think they use interactions to assess density,
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Jeg tror de bruger kommunikation til at måle tæthed,
10:44
so when they're really crowded,
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så når der er trængsel
10:45
they meet more often,
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1102
mødes de oftere
10:46
and they search more thoroughly.
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2465
og de kan søge grundigere.
10:49
Different ant species must use different algorithms,
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3400
Forskellige myrearter må bruge forskellige algoritmer,
10:52
because they've evolved to deal with
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fordi de har udviklet sig til at bruge
10:55
different resources,
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forskellige ressourcer,
10:56
and it could be really useful to know about this,
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og det kunne være nyttigt at vide mere
10:59
and so we recently asked ants
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så vi har fornylig spurgt myrerne
11:01
to solve the collective search problem
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om at løse det kollektive søgeproblem
11:03
in the extreme environment
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i det ekstreme miljø
11:04
of microgravity
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af mikrogravitation
11:06
in the International Space Station.
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1976
i Den Internationale Rumstation.
11:08
When I first saw this picture, I thought,
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1545
Da jeg først så dette billede tænkte jeg
11:09
Oh no, they've mounted the habitat vertically,
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åh nej, de har monteret habitatet lodret,
11:12
but then I realized that, of course, it doesn't matter.
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men så kom jeg på at det er ligegyldigt.
11:15
So the idea here is that the ants
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Ideen er at myrerne
11:18
are working so hard to hang on
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1970
må arbejde så hårdt for at holde sig fast
11:19
to the wall or the floor or whatever you call it
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til væggen eller gulvet eller hvad man kalder det
11:23
that they're less likely to interact,
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3009
at de vil kommunikere mindre,
11:26
and so the relationship between
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1244
så sammenhængen mellem
11:27
how crowded they are and how often they meet
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2120
hvor meget trængsel der er og hvor ofte de mødes
11:29
would be messed up.
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1725
vil blive forstyrret.
11:31
We're still analyzing the data.
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1395
Vi analyserer stadig data.
11:32
I don't have the results yet.
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1964
Jeg har ikke resultaterne endnu.
11:34
But it would be interesting to know
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Men det ville være interessant at vide
11:36
how other species solve this problem
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2459
hvordan andre arter løser dette problem
11:38
in different environments on Earth,
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i andre miljøer på Jorden,
11:41
and so we're setting up a program
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så vi er ved at starte et program
11:42
to encourage kids around the world
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2160
som skal få børn rundt om i verden
11:44
to try this experiment with different species.
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2536
til at eksperimentere med forskellige arter.
11:47
It's very simple.
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Det er meget simpelt.
11:48
It can be done with cheap materials.
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2090
Det kan gøres med billige materialer.
11:51
And that way, we could make a global map
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På den måde kan vi lave et globalt kort
11:53
of ant collective search algorithms.
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over myrers kollektive søgealgoritmer.
11:57
And I think it's pretty likely that the invasive species,
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Og jeg tror at de invasive arter,
11:59
the ones that come into our buildings,
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2149
dem som kommer ind i vores huse,
12:01
are going to be really good at this,
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vil være rigtig gode til dette
12:03
because they're in your kitchen
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1848
for de er i køkkenet
12:05
because they're really good
at finding food and water.
at finding food and water.
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3907
fordi de er gode til at finde mad og vand.
12:09
So the most familiar resource for ants
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Den kendteste ressource for myrer
12:12
is a picnic,
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er en picknick,
12:13
and this is a clustered resource.
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2145
og det er en koncentreret ressource.
Hvor der er et stykke frugt
12:16
When there's one piece of fruit,
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999
12:17
there's likely to be another piece of fruit nearby,
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2515
er der sandsynligvis mere frugt i nærheden.
12:19
and the ants that specialize on clustered resources
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Myrer som specialiserer sig i koncentrerede ressourcer
12:23
use interactions for recruitment.
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1942
bruger kommunikation til rekruttering.
12:24
So when one ant meets another,
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1277
Når en myre møder en anden,
12:26
or when it meets a chemical deposited
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1625
eller støder på et kemisk spor
12:27
on the ground by another,
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lagt på jorden af en anden myre,
12:29
then it changes direction to follow
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så ændrer den retning og følger
12:31
in the direction of the interaction,
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1573
i samme retning
12:32
and that's how you get the trail of ants
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1977
og på den måde får du en sti af myrer
12:34
sharing your picnic.
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1413
som spiser din picknick.
12:36
Now this is a place where I think we might be able
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Dette er et område hvor jeg tror
12:38
to learn something from ants about cancer.
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vi kan lære noget af myrerne om kræft.
12:41
I mean, first, it's obvious that we could do a lot
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For det første er det klart at vi kan
12:43
to prevent cancer
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1610
gøre meget for at forhindre kræft
12:45
by not allowing people to spread around
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2577
ved at forbyde folk at sprede sig
12:47
or sell the toxins that promote
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1944
eller sælge de giftstoffer som fremmer
12:49
the evolution of cancer in our bodies,
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2780
udviklingen af kræft i kroppen,
12:52
but I don't think the ants can help us much with this
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men det tror jeg ikke myrerne kan hjælpe os med
12:55
because ants never poison their own colonies.
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fordi myrer aldrig forgifter deres egne samfund.
12:58
But we might be able to learn something from ants
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Men vi kan måske lære noget af myrer
12:59
about treating cancer.
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om behandling af kræft.
13:01
There are many different kinds of cancer.
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Der er mange slags kræft.
13:03
Each one originates in a particular part of the body,
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Hver af dem opstår i en bestemt del af kroppen
13:06
and then some kinds of cancer will spread
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og nogle kræfttyper vil så sprede sig
13:09
or metastasize to particular other tissues
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og metastaser etablerer sig i andre væv
13:12
where they must be getting
resources that they need.
resources that they need.
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hvor de må skaffe de ressourcer de behøver.
13:15
So if you think from the perspective
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1808
Hvis vi tænker os
13:17
of early metastatic cancer cells
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1950
de tidlige metastatiske kræftceller
13:19
as they're out searching around
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1623
når de er ude og leder efter
13:20
for the resources that they need,
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2317
de ressourcer de behøver,
13:23
if those resources are clustered,
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1983
og hvis disse ressourcer findes i klynger,
13:25
they're likely to use interactions for recruitment,
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3013
så vil de måske bruge kommunikation til rekruttering,
13:28
and if we can figure out how
cancer cells are recruiting,
cancer cells are recruiting,
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og hvis vi finder ud af hvordan kræftceller rekrutterer
13:31
then maybe we could set traps
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kunne vi måske sætte fælder
13:33
to catch them before they become established.
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4049
for at fange dem før de etablerer sig.
13:37
So ants are using interactions in different ways
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3235
Så myrer bruger kommunikation på mange måder
13:40
in a huge variety of environments,
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2602
i mange slags miljøer
13:43
and we could learn from this
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1821
og vi kunne lære noget af dette
13:45
about other systems that operate
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om andre systemer som virker
13:47
without central control.
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2337
uden en central kontrol.
13:49
Using only simple interactions,
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1979
Kun ved hjælp af simpel kommunikation
13:51
ant colonies have been performing
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1795
har myresamfund udført
13:53
amazing feats for more than 130 million years.
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utrolige ting i mere end 130 millioner år.
13:56
We have a lot to learn from them.
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Vi har meget at lære af dem.
13:58
Thank you.
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Tak.
14:01
(Applause)
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(Applaus)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Deborah Gordon - EcologistBy studying how ant colonies work without any one leader, Deborah Gordon has identified striking similarities in how ant colonies, brains, cells and computer networks regulate themselves.
Why you should listen
Ecologist Deborah M. Gordon has learned that ant colonies can work without central control by using simple interactions like how often the insects touch antennae. Contrary to the notion that colonies are organized by efficient ants, she has instead discovered that evolution has produced “noisy” systems that tolerate accident and respond flexibly to the environment. When conditions are tough, natural selection favors colonies that conserve resources.
Her studies of ant colonies have led her and her Stanford colleagues to the discovery of the “Anternet,” which regulates foraging in ants in the same way the internet regulates data traffic. But as she said to Wired in 2013, "Insect behavior mimicking human networks ... is actually not what’s most interesting about ant networks. What’s far more interesting are the parallels in the other direction: What have the ants worked out that we humans haven’t thought of yet?" Her latest exploration: How do ants behave in space?
Deborah Gordon | Speaker | TED.com