Scientists in America have discovered a way of completely reprogramming the brains of ants by tweaking the activity of their genes. The findings, discovered by Professor Shelley Berger at the University of Pennsylvania, suggest that there is a chance that human behavior can be manipulated in a similar way. Dailymail.co.uk reports: In order to reprogram the ants, a team of scientists zeroed in on the ‘epigenetic’ controls, which switch genes on and off without permanent changes their DNA. They found that manipulating this layer of genetic control made it possible to reprogram the ants to change their foraging behaviour. Carpenter ant colonies are made up of two types of worker. Major workers are large brawny ants with large heads and powerful mandibles, for moving larger food items and defending the colony against attack. Previous studies by the group showed that epigenetic controls were responsible for determining whether an ant was a major or minor worker. In other words, the same genes were switched on in both types of ant, but an additional level of control decided how they develop into major or minor workers. A previous study revealed that in the minor workers, the genes involved in brain development were much more active. In [...]