In 2015, Hollywood plans to roll out a movie based on Ant-Man – a superhero who can shrink himself to the size of an insect and use a “cybernetic helmet” to communicate with ants.
There’s been a lot of talk about who should play Ant-Man (Paul Rudd!), but what about the ants? After all, it takes a special kind of arthropod to fight supervillains.
Consider these species that have what it takes to thwart evildoers.
Contender 1:
Contender 2:
Contender 3:
Guard your script, Paul Rudd!
Thanks to Lauren Rugani.
Check our facts!
http://www.pnas.org/content/103/34/12787.abstract
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1445486
http://www.pnas.org/content/99/9/6075.short
*Note: The Maricopa harvester ant’s sting is so poisonous that as little as .01 milligrams per kilogram would probably kill a grown man.
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Written by Matt Shipman
Matt Shipman (@shiplives) is a public information officer at North Carolina State University and a freelance science writer. He also writes the Communication Breakdown blog, which focuses on science communication. He lives near Raleigh, in a house full of humans.
Illustrated by Christina Wang
Christina Wang is an aspiring law-student who has no “objection” to making bad puns. She’s a student by day, artist by night, and nerd all the time. She lives in Southern California with her turtle and fish. Follow her on tumblr atplanetbob.tumblr.com
Oops! I think I should have written (under the section on the Maricopa harvester ant) milligrams per kilogram of body weight — not just milligrams. I blame a lack of coffee.
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