What drew you to this particular anthill?

Well, I've been really fascinated by insects since I was a little kid.

So I grew up in Germany, in Heidelberg, um, as you might be able to tell from my accent.

And my mom tells the story that, uh, she often couldn't find me during elementary school pickup because it turned out that I was hunched over in some hedge watching ants on the floor or looking at a beetle or something.

You know, when you, when you watch insects, they just look very exotic and, and almost like on a different planet or like some, some alien creatures.

And for me, that was always very fascinating, like thinking about how they experience the world and how they communicate and, and, uh, what that behavior means to them and how they live.

And then I made that early childhood fascination my profession.

So your latest study is about how a queen ant becomes a queen, which I take it is kind of mysterious and a little bit of a hot topic in the ant world.