Want to Get Out Alive? Follow the Ants

Article in Nautilus magazine highlighting research by Nirajan Shiwakoti and Majid Sarvi at Monash University in Melbourne into the influence of architectural design on evacuation speed and efficiency. The research used ants, which crowd together in similar ways to people in panic situations, and explored the impact of different physical layouts in easing congestion and flow through exit doors. The research was simulated with people and and showed results that were consistents with reserach using ants.

(Nautilus magazine, May 2014)

Want to Get Out Alive? Follow the Ants: Ants show that emergency exits can work better when they’re obstructed., Original research article — Enhancing the panic escape of crowd through architectural design
http://nautil.us/issue/13/symmetry/want-to-get-out-alive-follow-the-ants, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0968090X13000910