WHY I love insects 

Insects are like tiny, highly advanced robots, often hiding their complexity behind their small size. Their incredible diversity plays a crucial role in maintaining our ecosystems, making them both fascinating and impactful.

WHY I study social insects 

Social insects—ants, bees, wasps, and termites—are everywhere, thriving as some of the most successful groups of terrestrial animals. Each colony functions as a “superorganism,” where individual insects work together seamlessly to form a highly integrated and coordinated unit.

Since Darwin’s time, biologists have been captivated by how these creatures evolved such complex, cooperative lifestyles. While we’ve have already learnt much about how they function as a self-organized collective, many intriguing questions still remain, waiting to be explored.

Art Collaborator

Since 2021, I’ve been collaborating on art projects with Jiayi Guo, who is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Art Education at the University of Georgia. Jiayi holds a BFA in ceramic art and an MFA in art history from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in China. Together, we bridge science and art, merging our expertise to create thought-provoking works.

>> My email: horace.zhl at gmail dot com

Horace Zeng © 2025