Research done in the lab of David Hu (Assistant Professor Schools of Mechanical Engineering and Biology) was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and profiled in The Washington Post. The research focuses on the ability of fire ants to survive floods by self-assembling into waterproof rafts and was conducted primarily by ME graduate student Nathan Mlot.

The Washington Post article can be found here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/the_incredible_floating_fire_ant/2011/04/22/AFd3EbjE_story.html?wprss=rss_homepag

More information on ant rafts can be found here:
http://antlab.gatech.edu/antlab/The_Ant_Raft.html