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The Best of Our Knowledge

Smell maps and cleaner ants

By Lucas Willard
Published May 25, 2026 at 3:00 PM EDT
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© Mark Moffett, Minden Pictures
In the deserts of southeastern Arizona, several cleaner ants tend toa harvester ant by licking tiny particles off the larger ant's body

The Best of Our Knowledge explores topics on learning, education, and research.

A new scientific breakthrough is changing the way research think about our sense of smell.

And we’ll learn about a particular species of ant that spends its days cleaning ants of a separate species.

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The Best of Our Knowledge scienceresearchnosemapanimals
Lucas Willard
Lucas Willard is a news reporter and host at WAMC Northeast Public Radio, which he joined in 2011. He produces and hosts The Best of Our Knowledge and WAMC Listening Party.
See stories by Lucas Willard
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