The eyes of insects like ants can detect the polarisation of light Razvan Cornel Constantin/Alamy A compass that relies on polarised light can use the sun to tell where magnetic north is, even when it is cloudy. It is based on how some insects navigate and could be used when conventional magnetic compasses aren’t reliable, … Read more
The tobacco hawk moth (Manduca sexta) Jay Ondreicka/Shutterstock Some insects can flap their wings so rapidly that it’s impossible for instructions from their brains to entirely control the behaviour. Building tiny flapping robots has helped researchers shed light on how they evolved to do this. If you flap your arms, each movement happens after your … Read more
Starlings perched in a motion-capture lab built inside a converted barn Christian Zeigler An animal behaviour lab built inside a converted barn uses motion-capture cameras to track the movements and behaviours of entire flocks of birds or swarms of insects. The so-called SMART-BARN resembles a Hollywood motion-capture studio with 30 infrared cameras capable of tracking … Read more
Robotic dogs can locate fire ant nests Xin Su | Lanzhou University Robotic dogs can spot invasive fire ant nests more efficiently than human searchers – and they can safely stir up a swarm of aggressive ants by poking their nests, which can help researchers identify the notorious pests. The red imported fire ant (Solenopsis … Read more
A bee with the sensor attached B. GLEICH, I. SCHMALE, T. NIELSEN, AND J. RAHMER, PHILIPS RESEARCH HAMBURG, GERMANY A tiny sensor can work like a high-tech backpack for bees, tracking their position and temperature as they fly about. The sensor is so small that it could also be injected into a person’s body for … Read more
A laser controlled by two cameras and a small computer running an AI model can be trained to target certain types of insect Technology 20 October 2022 By Matthew Sparkes The cockroach-killing laser device Ildar Rakhmatulin Researchers have created a device that uses machine vision to spot cockroaches and zap them with a laser. They … Read more