Tim Temizyürek

I am interested understanding systems that are a) composed of many agents, b) don’t have a central decision maker and c) are highly functional. The colonies of leaf cutter ants (Atta vollenweideri) combine these traits, and I want to understand how evolution made them work. Specifically, I want to know where the information that regulates the colony is situated. To answer this question, I closely work with Christoph Kleineidam to i) conceptually explore a perspective on colony functioning that doesn’t center on ants and ii) experimentally measure colony functioning via leaf transport in the foraging context.

Outside of ants, I have a strong interest in history of biology and philosophy of science, to understand what it is that we scientists are doing, why and if we should. At the moment, (the lack of) rationality of science is on my mind. Otherwise, I like evolutionary theory, base R and I try to become a passable statistician. My scientific superpower is to close all my tabs when I close my browser.

You can always drop me a mail or send me a message on Twitter @TimTemizyurek