For centuries we've peered at them, delighted and terrified at seeing our best and worst traits in miniature. Brett Westwood investigates why we see ourselves in the Ant.
For centuries we've peered at them, delighted and terrified at seeing our best and worst traits in miniature. Brett Westwood investigates why we see ourselves in the Ant.
With contributions from the Ant Lab of Nigel Franks, giant ants as seen by Judith Buchanan, slave-making ants as interpreted by John Clarke and Tom Waits, and the robot swarm of Sabine Hauert. Plus St Paul's Cathedral and a whole ant colony between two microscope slides.
Readings by Nicola Ferguson and Brian Protheroe: poems by John Clare, Peter Kane Dufault and Matthew Francis; and the works of Ovid, Adam Smith, William Gould and César Vallejo. Plus the fearsome threat of H G Wells' The Empire of the Ants, and the films Antz, and THEM!
Producer: Melvin Rickarby
Podcast
-
![]()
Natural Histories
Stories of nature’s impact on human culture and society through history.
