What's there not to love about science? Every now and then the never-ending quest to improve humanity's understanding of our reality throws up something totally marvellous.
Like how nocturnal African ball-rolling dung beetles use the sun, the moon and the celestial polarisation pattern to move along a straight line, away from the intense competition at the dung pile, as the researchers from the universities of Lund, Sweden, the Witwatersrand and Pretoria, South Africa, put it.
The researchers noticed that the dung beetles were able to move straight even during clear moonless nights which made them suspect the insects got their bearings from the stars.
"In a planetarium, the beetles orientate equally well when rolling under a full starlit sky as when only the Milky Way is present," the scientists noted.
Which is, no matter how you look at it, an astounding capability.
In the words of professor Javaan Chahl, a remote sensing engineer at the University of South Australia:
“Insects have been solving navigational problems for millions of years, including those that even the most advanced machines struggle with. And they’ve done it in a tiny little package. Their brains consist of tens of thousands of neurons compared to billions of neurons in humans, yet they still manage to find solutions from the natural world.”
Having a large strip of light like the Milky Way is what the dung beetles need to navigate. Professor Chahl said the insects move their heads and bodies extensive while rolling dung balls, so they need a fixed point in the sky to help them steer in a straight line.
Being bugs, the beetles have compound eyes and cannot discern individual stars, particularly when rolling dung. The Milky Way on the other hand is very visible.
That first documented use of the Milky Way for orientation was in 2013. Inspired by that research, UniSA researchers have developed an artificial intelligence sensor that measures the orientation of the Milky Way in low light.
What that can be used for is stabilising satellites, and helping drones and robots navigating in low light, as the lead author of the June 2024 AI sensor paper Yiting Tao said.
Tao intends to put the algorithm the researchers have developed on a drone, to allow it to control the aircraft in flight at night.
One of the original University of Lund researchers, Eric Warrant, was involved with the UniSA work, which highlights the need for long term continuity of projects, as well a collaboration between scientists.
Related to the above, I've now learnt why the #@*&#^$!! paper wasps in the country stop moving when it's overcast. They need the sun to navigate.
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