Ant Stories By Andrey Pavlov

The Chinese character for ant (simplified Chinese: 蚁; traditional Chinese: 蟻; pinyin: yǐ) is a combination of two logograms that may be interpreted as "insect (simplified Chinese: 虫; traditional Chinese: 蟲; pinyin: chóng) which behaves properly (simplified Chinese: 义; traditional Chinese: 義; pinyin: yì)". The traditional Chinese character yǐ (蟻) used in Japanese shares this etymology. In spoken Chinese the ant is usually referred to as mǎyĭ (simplified Chinese: 蚂蚁; traditional Chinese: 螞蟻).
From the late 1950s through the late 1970s, ant farms were popular educational children's toys in the United States. Later versions use transparent gel instead of soil allowing greater visibility. In the early 1990s, the video game SimAnt, which simulated an ant colony, won the 1992 Codie award for "Best Simulation Program".
Ants are also quite popular inspiration for many science-fiction creatures, such as the Formics of Ender's Game, the Bugs of Starship Troopers, the giant ants in the film Them!, and ants mutated into super intelligence in Phase IV. In strategy games, ant-based species often benefit from increased production rates due to their single-minded focus, such as the Klackons in the Master of Orion series of games or the ChCht in Deadlock II. These characters are often credited with a hive mind, a common misconception about ant colonies.