Today, the human population is growing beyond our planet's ability to support it. Groans from Americans as they grudgingly fork out their savings to pay exorbitant gas prices reveals that an alternate source of energy is desperately needed, not only to maintain the lifestyle of Western civilization, but also to stop further global warming, the consequences of which are unpredictable and potentially catastrophic. For a while now, the idea of harnessing the immense power of the sun has been investigated with some degree of success but has never really been achieved in a practical and cost-effective manner. Yet in other, more "primitive" societies, this feat may have already been accomplished. With this in mind, I have examined the habits of some of our fellow creatures in an attempt to find more effective techniques for harvesting solar power.

On a crisp morning, soon to turn into a scorching summer day, I walk along a trail leading to White Rock Canyon, near Los Alamos, New Mexico. Many would not consider this sparse woodland habitat, which is covered in scrub oak, piñon, and juniper, to be attractive. However, I grew up here, and although this harsh wilderness may not possess the majesty of a towering pine forest, or the awe-inspiring splendor of a rain forest, to me it has its own stark, rugged beauty. Along this path it would be hard to miss the towering anthills built by Pogonomyrmex, the harvester ant. At first glance their mounds seem to be composed of small jewels, but upon closer examination they are actually built out of tiny quartz crystals about 1-2 mm in length. For a long time I considered these shimmering palaces to be just for show, true "diamonds in the rough" dotting the desert landscape. But eventually I began to speculate on the purpose of these quartz mounds (Dinger, 2001). Perhaps these tiny creatures use the light-transmitting properties of quartz to trap heat, which is then absorbed in the mounds, in order to warm their habitats. More explicitly, because quartz is transparent to visible and ultraviolet light from the sun, the sunlight is absorbed, heating the mound. The layer of quartz on the anthill then acts as insulation, preventing heat from escaping. Since ants are most active in warm temperatures, such heat retention inside the mound could increase the time available for ant activity.

The longer I considered this intriguing hypothesis, the more determined I became to understand the function of the quartz crystals glittering atop the harvester ants' mounds. Perhaps this investigation of these miniscule fascinations will inspire similar ideas for our society, enabling the solution of mankind's energy and environmental problems.

Background

Ant colonies are both fascinating and complex (Gordon, 1999), although much about the lives of the harvester ant and other species is still unknown. A colony begins with the mating of the tiny winged alates. The females become potential queens after mating; however, their chance of survival is less than 1 percent. The males die within a few days of the mating ritual. Against the odds, a few novice queens manage to create colonies, which become established only after two years. After surviving this crucial era, colonies go through various phases, each with a unique colonial personality, until they reach six years of age, at which time the population growth plateaus and the colony remains at a size of about 10,000 ants for 12 more years. The queen sustains the colony, although her job is far from royal. Her only function is to produce larvae for her colony until she dies, after 20 years. Once the queen is dead, the colony will also die out, since its population can no longer be replenished.