If you’re looking for someone to get you excited about ants, Magdalena Sorger is happy to help. She’s an ant scientist at North Carolina State University. Originally from Austria, Sorger has collected ants all over the world. She studies how ants evolve based on where they live. She often works with trap-jaw ants. These insects with large, snapping jaws can launch themselves through the air!
WHAT GOT YOU INTERESTED IN ANTS?
Originally, I was on a very different track. I was getting my business degree in Vienna. In Austria, if you study business, you don’t really do anything outside of business. I chose to go to the US for a semester. When I arrived, I really liked that American schools give you the opportunity to take classes outside of your field. I took a psychology class and a biology class. The biology class was about animal behavior, and I learned that insects were really interesting. It’s kind of a whole world that you don’t see if you don’t look closely. After I finished the class, I went to different national parks, and for the first time in my life I paid attention to these small creatures.
There was this moment when I looked at an ant and thought “this is it.” Suddenly, strangely, I decided that I wanted to know everything there is to know about ants! I got back to Austria and started reading books, and then I ended up going to the natural history museum in Vienna. Somebody there who specifically works with ants took me on as a sort of apprentice. He took me out in the field, and I started to learn about ants, and things continued from there. Two years later I started my PhD in the US working exclusively on ants.
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST EXPEDITION LIKE?
This story is from the July/August 2020 edition of Muse Science Magazine for Kids.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the July/August 2020 edition of Muse Science Magazine for Kids.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Who's Your Cousin?
The great apes are among the most popular animals in most zoos. Their actions, facial expressions, and family life remind us so much of ourselves. Have you ever wondered, though, how we might look to them?
Is it possible to die of boredom?
To figure out if we can die of boredom, we first have to understand what boredom is. For help, we called James Danckert, a psychologist who studies boredom at the University of Waterloo in Canada.
THE PROBLEM WITH PALM OIL
Palm oil is all around you. It’s in sugary snacks like cookies and candy bars. It’s in lipstick and shampoo and pet food.
SERGE WICH
Serge Wich’s favorite days at work are spent out in the forest, studying orangutans in Sumatra and Borneo or chimpanzees in Tanzania.
ELODIE FREYMANN
When you’re feeling sick, it probably doesn’t occur to you to try eating tree bark.
Guardians of the Forest
EARLY, MAKESHIFT WILDLIFE DRONES HELPED TO DETECT AND PROTECT ORANGUTANS.
APE ANTICS
The Whirling World of primate play
Dr. Ape Will See You Now
HUMANS AREN’T THE ONLY PRIMATES THAT USE MEDICATION.
THE LEFT OVERS
A lot has happened for modern humans to get to this point. We lost most of our hair, learned how to make tools, established civilizations, sent a person to the Moon, and invented artificial intelligence. Whew! With all of these changes, our bodies have changed, too. It’s only taken us about six million years.
SO, WHAT IS A PRIMATE?
What do you have in common with the aye-aye, sifaka, siamang, and potto? If you said your collarbone, you re probably a primatologist—a person who studies primates. If you’re not, read on.
