Ants are everywhere. They thrive in forests, fields, deserts, and cities all over the planet. Their secret to success is that they all live and work together in highly organized communities, some of which have many millions of members.

Ants have the largest brains of any insects, but that doesn’t mean a single ant on its own is all that smart. As individual ants leave their nest in search for food, they walk in what appear to be random paths, hoping to come across something to eat. When an individual ant finds a food source, the ant will take a bit of the food back to the nest, leaving a trail of pheromones behind them to mark the path. Over time, ants organize their search, optimizing the best and shortest path between the food source and the nest. As more ants follow the optimal path back and forth, they leave more and more pheromones, which in turn attract more and more ants, creating a reinforcing efficiency effect. Over time, older ants gather more experience about the environment surrounding their nests, which makes it easier for them to forage effectively.

Even though individual ants can get smarter over time as they learn more about their surrounding environment, the real ant intelligence [and strength] is in the collective. They are so united toward the common purpose of growth and reproduction that they behave like a “superorganism.”

Tracy Howell of Leonard, Texas, has found a unique way of showing her husband both her love and her fellowship in his daily life. On December 1, 2020 she shared the following in a Facebook post which has since racked up hundreds of thousands of shares:

"Clifford and I have been married almost 41 years and I have made his lunch every working day since day 1. On occasion I would join him on the job site and have lunch with him. He made the comment once that lunch tasted better when you share it with someone you love ❤️. Soon after that, while fixing his sandwich one night, I took a bite out of it before putting it away. When he got home (long before cell phones) he commented that someone took a bite out of his sandwich. I told him that since I couldn’t join him for lunch, I took a bite so he knew I was joining him. I continue to do this frequently (unless it’s tuna or pimento cheese) and he still says, 'saw you joined me for lunch today and it sure was good."

Tracy wanted her husband to know that she isn’t just thinking about him, she’s actually “joining” him in his daily experiences.  She’s “with” him. She’s “taking a bite” out of whatever struggles or hardships he encounters. She’s “sharing a meal” to fellowship with him over his victories and triumphs. In this simple gesture, she is communicating to him that they truly are in this thing together. It's fellowship on the deepest level.

In 2005, neuroscientist Gregory Berns conducted experiments to try to gauge how people respond to societal pressures. Berns created social groups that were tasked with looking at a series of objects to decide if they were the same or different. But unbeknownst to the volunteers, four participants in each group of five had been coached to unanimously give fake answers to some of the questions. Even though they were obviously wrong, on average, 40 percent of the time the volunteers went along with the group.

Subjects were also hooked up to a brain scanner. Berns concluded that social pressure activates the part of the brain devoted to spatial perception, showing the desire to fit in causes people to change their picture of reality.