These aren’t balloons—they’re honeypot ants found in the deserts of Australia. The ants eat a sweet liquid that bugs called aphids excrete from their rear ends. Eventually, the ants’ bodies swell to the size of grapes. This stored “honey” is then regurgitated, or thrown up, to feed fellow ants.

For thousands of years, Indigenous people in Australia have used the ants’ honey to treat infections. Recently, scientists confirmed that the honey is indeed antimicrobial—it can fight off disease-causing pathogens. Indigenous people already have deep knowledge of the natural world, says Dee Carter, a microbiologist from the University of Sydney in Australia. “Eventually, science catches up.”