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The bugs around the streetlight are being tricked to think they are going in a straight line. They are doing the aerial equivalent of an ant death spiral. (www.nature.com)
submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by ThisIsAManWhoKnowsHowToGling@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/science@lemmy.world
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/14539407

breaking news: light pollution sends bugs to hell

Preexisting research into bugs circling lights was mainly to see what properties of the lights attracted the bugs, which is how we know that certain LED lights can prevent the bugs from flying towards it.

This study, however, showed that the bugs aren't trying to get to the light at all. The light triggers their dorsal reflex, causing them to recalibrate their sense of direction to keep the light at a fixed angle from their perspective. The bugs think they are going in a straight line, forever, and they never get to where they are going.

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[-] ThisIsAManWhoKnowsHowToGling@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 9 months ago

I am assuming that somebody in their community saw the bugs going in fairly consistent circles, thought about what they were doing, and used common sense to decide that the bugs were trying to keep the light in one side of their body for some reason.

It does solve the problem of "why don't insects all try to fly into the sun?" which the warmth-seeking hypothesis didn't explain

[-] StaticFalconar@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

Observing the bugs going in fairly consistent circles is a level of observation higher than what most kids do, and is the level of detail needed to start thinking something different than bugs are attracted to light hypothesis when the level of observation didnt include wich detail.

[-] ThisIsAManWhoKnowsHowToGling@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 9 months ago

Tbh if my kid came up with something like that, I would not stop bragging about it to teachers and other people with a psych background

this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2024
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