GeekTyrant

Fish. Snakes. Frogs. Spiders. These are on the top of the list when it comes to low-maintenance pets. Some of us unlucky children could only be trusted with brine shrimp, cleverly renaming them Sea Monkeys. Yet if you've ever owned one, you'd know that all of those creatures dull in comparison to the industrious ant. Moreover.. the Ant Farm. Now, thanks to NASA's 17 billion-dollar-a-year budget, Ant Farms aren't just for kids anymore!

The Test:

"Their hypothesis was that the ants would be disoriented and slower in space because of the lack of gravity. Actually the opposite happened. The ants tunneled like crazy, like maniacs."

Said Charlotte Archabald, a high school teacher referring to her students whom she signed up for SPACEHAB's Space Technology program.

Above: 4,500 photos taken of my ant farm habitat

The Tech:

The students! Above is a time-lapsed video of my own 4 day experiment using Antworks, an illuminated gel-filled habitat for ants. This has the very same gel compound that the astronauts launched with them for the ants-in-space experiment. NASA's findings helped students comprise the perfect kind of nutrient-packed substance to allow ants to live in space, or just have their own space on your nightstand.

No predators, all the food you can eat and the ability to carry out all of their activities in weightlessness. If only buying Queen ants weren't illegal, then these fellas would really have the life.