There’s an interesting article and video over on New World Notes on a project involving virtual ants by Tectonic Nabob:
This simulation of ant colony behavior uses scripted ants that follow a systematic search pattern for finding food, then finding their way back to their nest. The simulation makes use of visual tracers to identify pheromone trails of the exploring ants, and the recruited ants being recruited into the role of carrying the food back to the colony.
Pretty amazing use of SL for a simulation of ant behavior, illustrating this behavior in a graphical way. Another example of thinking outside of the box in finding uses for Second Life.
PacificRim Exchange 
What if your avatar was the object, insect, animal, electron you were studying? For educational purposes it would have scripted parameters that were consistent with what we know about it. After being the thing for a time…students would reflect about what they learned…predators were near the shore, it was safest to be near rocks…
Just a thought.
pete