2000.07.15 How much weight can a worker carry and why?

Up to 50 times their own weight! --Angelo Scott

Ants have proportionately more muscle (in terms of that cross-sectional area) that they can use to lift heavy things. Conversely, humans are proportionately more massive, and have less muscle that can be applied to lifting heavy things. --Rob Campbell (The MAD Scientist Network).

More details here: http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/may99/927263695.Gb.r.html