Ants Are Practically Immune to Traffic Jams
> Whereas, when a trail is overcrowded, the ants restrained themselves and avoided joining until things thinned out.<p>This sounds a lot like how traffic waves [1] occur. When there's a traffic jam ahead, you can often help clear it out just by slowing down to the average speed it's moving. Going a steady 10mph is much better than going 30mph for 1/3 of the time and then being stopped for 2/3 of the time. If everyone can start going smoothly at 10mph it will eventually speed up.<p>Traffic jams occur because cars are arriving at some point on the road faster than they can leave that point. If the cars coming towards it just <i>slow down</i> to allow the cars there time to leave, the jam will clear.<p>[1] <a href="http://trafficwaves.org/" rel="nofollow">http://trafficwaves.org/</a>