Crows discovered antibiotics millions of years before humans.

When a crow gets sick, it does something that looks insane — it finds an ant colony and deliberately pisses them off.

The ants attack. They spray formic acid everywhere in defense.

The crow? Doesn’t run. It spreads its wings and just… takes it. Lets the ants crawl all over its body.

Here’s the genius part: Formic acid is a natural antibacterial and antifungal compound. It kills the parasites and microbes that destroy feathers. The crow is basically giving itself a chemical bath.

Scientists call this “anting.” Over 200 bird species do it. First documented in 1831, but birds have been doing it for millions of years.

It gets weirder.

When ants aren’t available, some birds grab LIT CIGARETTE BUTTS and rub themselves with the smoke instead. They found a substitute for their medicine.

We spent centuries “discovering” antibiotics. Crows were running their own pharmacy this whole time.

Here’s what strikes me: evolution is the original drug discovery engine. Billions of years. Trillions of experiments. No hypothesis — just relentless trial and error until something works.

Now we’re building AI systems that do the same thing for antibody design — searching vast molecular spaces, predicting protein structures, optimizing binding affinity. What took nature millions of years, AI can explore in days.

The crow? Doesn’t run. It spreads its wings and just… takes it. Lets the ants crawl all over its body.

Here’s the genius part: Formic acid is a natural antibacterial and antifungal compound. It kills the parasites and microbes that destroy feathers. The crow is basically giving itself a chemical bath.

Scientists call this “anting.” Over 200 bird species do it. First documented in 1831, but birds have been doing it for millions of years.

It gets weirder.

When ants aren’t available, some birds grab LIT CIGARETTE BUTTS and rub themselves with the smoke instead. They found a substitute for their medicine.

We spent centuries “discovering” antibiotics. Crows were running their own pharmacy this whole time.

Here’s what strikes me: evolution is the original drug discovery engine. Billions of years. Trillions of experiments. No hypothesis — just relentless trial and error until something works.

Now we’re building AI systems that do the same thing for antibody design — searching vast molecular spaces, predicting protein structures, optimizing binding affinity. What took nature millions of years, AI can explore in days.

Crows discovered antibiotics millions of years before humans.

When a crow gets sick, it does something that looks insane — it finds an ant colony and deliberately pisses them off.

The ants attack. They spray formic acid everywhere in defense.

The crow? Doesn't run. It spreads… pic.twitter.com/wMEDupKKgm

— Bo Wang (@BoWang87) February 13, 2026