Ants are co-rulers of planet Earth. There are ten thousand trillion worldwide. Roughly. If you weighed all the humans on Earth today, we would weigh around the same as all the ants. They have been on Earth for 140 million years. They outlasted the dinosaurs.

In a typical colony, almost exclusively female, adults care for the young, a queen acts as the Head of State, and a regimented division of labour predetermines the chores that maintain the community. They can sew silk, garden, enslave other ants, and are one of the few species, other than humans, truly capable of altering their surroundings.

Just like humans, ants have their own unique way of communicating. They have mastered an odorous alphabet that allows for recognition, alarm, territoriality, and internal balance of the colony. The letters of their alphabet are called pheromones and they help spell out the immediate and long-term activities needed to govern the nest.

But in terms of ecology, we have a lot to learn from the humble ant.

In the process of going about their business, ants recycle the nutrients of the earth, turning more soil on a daily basis than the ubiquitous earthworm. Indeed, ants are the premier soil turners on Earth. They help the environment by consuming unwanted plants, enriching the soil when they process their food so nothing goes to waste. To them waste is food.

They have learnt to coexist with trees and plants so that all parties benefit. Some ants even help in the spreading of seeds. And they don’t have to run a huge advertising campaign to get ants recycling. It is instinctive.

And yet the ant can do all this with a brain that weighs less than one millionth as much as a human brain.

And there we were thinking that we were the smartest critters on the planet.

 

Nice little thought from Howies, with an ecologically-friendly tinge. Nice brand, nice t-shirts!

Anyone want to go to the Dieter Rams exhibition before it ends next week?

- Ollie

18 November 2009 %u2013 09 March

FINAL WEEKS
The museum is open late Saturday 27 February, Saturday 6 March and Sunday 7 March until 7pm.

”One not to be missed.”
Creative Review

As head of design at Braun, the German consumer electronics manufacturer, Dieter Rams emerged as one of the most influential industrial designers of the late 20th century by defining an elegant, legible, yet rigorous visual language for its products. The exhibition will showcase Rams%u2019 landmark designs for Braun and furniture manufacturer Vits%u0153, examine how Rams%u2019 design ethos inspired Braun%u2019s entire product range for over 40 years, and assess his lasting influence on today%u2019s design landscape.

EVENT Tuesday 2 March
7.15pm, �15, Goethe-Institut, London
The Ten Principles of Dieter Rams
In this panel discussion design specialists from both Germany and the UK will examine the impact and implications of the work of Dieter Rams. In the way that Rams himself suggested, “question everything generally thought to be obvious”, the debate will refer to the acknowledged influence this major figure has had on industrial design to see what has and could or should still be learnt from his methods and philosophy.

To bring his Ten Principles of good design up to date the audience will submit their ideal 11th principle at the end of the debate. The Design Museum proudly presents this informative discussion in partnership with the Goethe-Institut where the event will be held.

Booking
Tickets �15 / �10 Members
T 020 7940 8783
E tickets@designmuseum.org
Goethe-Institut, 50 Princes Gate, Exhibition Road, SW7 2PH

Dieter Rams’ Ten Principles of good design:
Good design is innovative.
Good design makes a product useful.
Good design is aesthetic.
Good design makes a product understandable.
Good design is unobtrusive.
Good design is honest.
Good design is long-lasting.
Good design is thorough down to the last detail.
Good design is environmentally friendly.
Good design is as little design as possible.

Exhibition tickets available in advance from Ticketweb

Dieter Rams in conversation with Deyan Sudjic from Vits%u0153 on Vimeo. Filmed at Vits%u0153, 72 Wigmore Street London in September 2008.

The Design Museum is grateful for the generous support of the Dieter Rams Circle of Friends and Vits%u0153.

Termites ensure a similarly successful outcome using chemical signals called pheromones. As the nest-builders chew soil pellets into a cement-like paste, their saliva adds a chemical which, for just a few minutes, can be “smelled” by other builders over a distance of a centimetre or so. This sets up a positive feedback: the more a pillar is augmented, the stronger a pheromone source it becomes, causing the termites to add even more material.