We Were Completely Wrong About Why Bugs Are Attracted To Lights
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- Опубликовано: 8 май 2024
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Hello and welcome! My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about a new study that explains why bugs are attracted to light...and it's a bit depressing
Links:
theconversation.com/the-surpr...
www.nature.com/articles/s4146...
#insects #biology #bugs
0:00 Bugs attracted to light
1:30 Previous assumptions that were not correct
2:50 New research and how it was done
3:35 Discoveries and unusual findings
5:20 How this affects insects' instincts
6:55 Which lights are the worst?
8:00 Conclusions
9:20 Variations amongst insects
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![Kehlani - After Hours [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/6qatTTscK4c/mqdefault.jpg)
Now can scientists figure out why bugs wanna fly into my nose.
Good point 😂
Moisture
It's because some insects are attracted to sources of carbon dioxide. Their olfactory senses pick up your exhalations and that's a signal of either a potential food source or hiding spot.
Gnats are attracted to the warm moist air. Really fricken annoying!
Cause your damn nose too big. Suckin up all the damn bug air. Bugs need to breathe too
This just makes "Drawn like a moth to a flame" more sinister. Like someone not only being ignorant to the danger, but also to the fact that they got totally lost, let alone that they're diverting from their straight path at all. Their whole world is literally being turned upside down, without them noticing a thing.
I absolutely love this new spin on the saying, and will 100% be using it in creative writing. Thank you for the inspiration!
lost in the sauce
Kinda reminds me of the deer in headlights saying.
From a human perspective, it seems odd to see a creature freeze up when danger is approaching.
But when I see a car at night and even some dusky times, all I can really see are the headlights.
Deer probably have better night vision than me, but I wouldnt be suprised if they also couldnt really see the whole car.
So the deer sees two floating orbs that emit light, something that it only ever sees in the sky, and freezes up because its incapable of understanding whats happening.
Cars at night could quite literally be a horror beyond a deers comprehension.
@@simplyeyeronic1443 And even if they could recognize it as an integrated entity they would likely just run in a straight path away from the vehicle and get hit, because they evolved in a world where predators can easy change course and they expect the same behavior of vehicles.. in their mind, darting sideways (to actual safety, unbeknownst to them) would just be wasted time and energy
You said that pretty poetically. A little inspiring, tbh. I commend your way of writing.
(Actually you could literally make a poem about it. I'd read it, so @ me if you just, spontaneously want to do a silly thing from out of nowhere or whatever.)
One time I went to a vacation in a lake city, and noticed that the locals especially at bar or restaurants all used red led lights for the outdoor use, and that near theese red lamps there were no insect while normal white lights were like nests full of insects. For what I've seen the color of the lights matters.
Most insects can't see red wavelengths, lots of people who keep them as pets use a transparent red plastic sheet to cover the lower sides of the terrariums, so they can peek into their underground chambers without disturbing them ^^
@@Dustfinity They may not see. How about the wave or the heat?
Thats really interesting. also, just to say it in case you, or someone else is not aware. Red light does not trigger human day/night sensitivity. this is why submarines use RED lights in periscope rooms.(the rest of the sub is lit normally, the periscope/command is red lights, so when the periscope operator looks out the periscope at night, they can see.) Observatories also use red light.
@@Cassandra112And I'm guessing also why phones now have blue light filter to reduce wavelength disturbance before bed time. (My partner's phone gets so red at night, I was like "how do your eyes get used to this?" lol)
If I'm not mistaken, this is because they cannot see the red light (I have not fact checked this, however, so I might be wrong)! So, it does not disturb their behavior as much. Also the reason I've seen red lights used to make nocturnal insects visible in their enclosures, without bothering them.
The abstract mentions lunar navigation right off the bat.
The prevailing notion up until this was that insects orient by sensing distant light sources with their compound eyes. A distant light source would stay in the same sections of the compound eye while moving, so the idea was when a light source would be close by, they would adjust their trajectory to keep it in the same section as well, therefore curving it.
This seems much more elegant and simpler, but isn't really that revolutionary. We have known this to be a sensory malfunction for decades, we just assumed it was their eyes that are malfunctioning instead.
See my comment about divers being able to answer this question instantly. If they asked the right question...
@@MyName-tb9oz You can't search youtube comments like that. If you want to spread your comment, you have to copy and paste it.
Yeah, I know, @@pendlera2959. They've probably deleted it by now anyway.
@MyName-tb9oz sounds interesting... whats the title of your comment??
@@pendlera2959 You can. Click their nickname. Should show you other comments on the channel.
That's the same reason that silver colored/aluminized plastic mulch is so effective in keeping insects from attacking plants. The extreme brightness on their down direction causes them to turn to an upside down orientation, which prevents them from being able to land on the plants, and thus from being able to feed on them. No pesticides required.
gold
Doesn't this also prevent them from being pollinated?
who uses silver or even bright colored mulch lol that would be the talk of the town
Okay can we figure out how to delete mosquitos from earth now.
FR THIS IS THE QUESTION @@smithasureshholisticnutrit6287
The fact that bugs orient their backs to light is so simple, yet explains so much. Using light for orientation and navigation is a given, but getting stuck because that light is actually located somewhere near and not in the sky, constantly forcing the bugs to change their course is pretty wild.
Almost like swimming/diving in a turning drum, trying to figure out where's the surface...
just goes to show how consistent nature is, that over millions of years bugs AND animals (NOT just insects) use light for orientation at such a degree that their life literally cannot function normally with the adding of artificial light. turtles that hatch on beaches need the moonlight to find the ocean. but the light from towns and cities near beaches make it a complete guessing game.
Then how mosquitoes orient themselves at night? They still get attracted by lights
Not only is it very simple, but I believe it’s been the leading scientific explanation for pretty much my entire life. At least it was explained to me this way when I was a child.
@@lostrelicsf2p756 mosquitoes are not attracted to UV lights. They may be attracted to things near the UV lights -- like pheromones, heat, etc -- but not the UV lights themselves. They have a different kind of setup, different mode of operation. They want blood, that's what has worked for them evolutionatiry -- so they display different strategies for orientation and basic goal seeking / avoidance.
@lostrelicsf2p756 yeah I would agree more with lostrelics.
They may have a similar instinct, but they are also looking for living play that moves and has body heat, so their system for navigation may differ from pollinators and other flying insects
My city has an ordinance against keeping outdoor lights on past 10 pm and beyond a certain brightness. You can still turn the porch light on to take the dog out or to sit on the patio, just turn it off once inside. Additionally, motion controlled flood lights are allowed and are used mainly to deter deer. String lights during the holidays/winters is also allowed. We also have rules regarding how many trees and what age/size a property is allowed to remove and what kinds of land can and cannot be built on (ex: if you buy property with a section of wetland or dense forest on it, you can’t tear it down and fill it in. You can still make paths and driveways, sheds and fences, and ad extensions to your home, you just have to work with the natural environment and be reasonable in doing so. In other words you can fell an entire grove of trees to build your mansion when there is already land enough to do so on the same property next to the tree line). Because of these efforts, we have healthy wetland ecosystems out our back doors and see animals and birds not often seen in suburban areas. We get foxes, mink, two species of shrews, great horned owls, snowy owls, and muskrats and many species of native insects and arachnids.
thats pretty cool! I wondered what country you live in?
Do they actually enforce that?
That'd be amazing. Firefly season started about a week ago at my house, you can see them better when the neighbors turn their porch lights off too. And they have difficulty finding each other when there's porch lights on.
Anton, I'm touched by your compassion for these tiny creatures!
Dust birds!
i find them disgusting but couldnt kill one, even when one flies into my windscreen i shake my head
As a lighting designer and engineer for one of the largest commercial lighting companies in Europe, this is a great informative video. The white paper this study generated is now being used by various lighting manufacturers to consider when designing new lights for external applications. Great work Antov, always top quality videos.
For certain use cases, maybe just don't make the light bulbs circular? If one side is illuminated and the other side is dark, the insects might be kicked out of their circular behaviour.
Make them soft and yellow. The bright led white lights are too bright. There's problems with sea life (turtles) who nest on beaches then when they hatch they go towards the lights by the road not towards the sea.
Moths are hard wired to fly towards the light of the moon. When street lamps interrupt this instinct, they’re actually interrupting a fixed action pattern designed to increase their ability to reproduce by locating pheromones.
FYI - i posted a comment up above about my chandelier light, where flies circle it, even when it's ALWAYS OFF.
So, i'm thinking it has more to do with the electric current, even when it's off.
They might have to continue doing more research...
@@beckyyoung2173If the light is off there is no current either.
30 seconds in and he's already got the Roman empire on his mind.
SPQR
Real man
@@apokatastasian2831 ⚔️
CARTAGO DELENDA EST
All day I think about ROME, ROME, the Roman empire
Typical men...
I praise your search for giving and receiving knowledge! You are my favorite youtuber by far! You are a Godsend upon those that don't think beyond thier sight. I have sent out so many of your vids to explain what i have been talking about since i was little. You explain it so well without going into mental breakdown. Lol. Thank You !!!!!
Your shirt really matched with this subject lol. Great video btw, definitely made me kinda disturbed and perhaps sad, but the explanation was really interesting and well done
I'm all for reducing light pollution. That most people go through life never seeing the full majesty of the milky way above our heads depresses me even more than this.
Not to mention just how much electricity we're wasting with it as well when it's not needed
Throughout the Northern hemisphere there is a pollution layer that extends from ground to about 5000ft. You need to get above that, to appreciate the true beauty of the sky.
It doesn't apply South of the equator. They haven't managed to ruin their atmosphere yet.
@@farrier2708 every little bit helps, I suppose,
@@farrier2708 Yea, my first experience seeing the true sky was on Mount Cook in New Zealand. It's life changing.
@@farrier2708
I concur.
The night sky in Brazil is truly mesmerizing.
Bugs: "The light will bring doom to our entire species!"
Spiders: "It is the promise land!"
"'Will you walk into my parlor?', said a spider to a fly"
That random gecko: Meat is back on the menu boys
This is actually part of the lore of Hollow Knight.
Go towards the light😅
@@donmcatee45We figured, fuck it..... I mean it was really far
Thank you Petrov. I found your video extremely informative. And look forward to seeing more.
Love your work, man! Keep it up!
I had always noticed when camping or fishing that for a short time before and just after dusk is when a lot of bugs become active and get attracted to lights. By waiting till an hour after dusk, before turning a light on, you will greatly reduce the number of bugs circling a light. If a light has been on for a while and there is a large population of bugs around it, turn it off for half an hour before reigniting it and it will keep the number of bugs down. Most of the action occurs just around dusk.
Interesting. It seems like with that hour of total darkness, the insects have had time to get into "night mode" properly, get to whatever destination they would have preferred being. But if they encounter a light while the sun hasn't totally set, it can "capture them along their way" and lock them in flight there.
Very interesting.
Another thing I noticed, when there's a light source attracting a lot of flying insects, it also attracts spiders. No biggie really, except towards the end of summer, we get these huge spiders that make these big webs-and they'll make it right in front of my front door. Like right across, face level lol. And they're hard to see too. Had a real stubborn spider, I relocated it, and that thing was right back there that evening. BUT, it did make it's web a bit higher up so I could walk under it-cautiously. That actually made me laugh at it's consideration of me.
It probably had babies that’s why it crawled back and it knew building it’s web in that same spot was not safe, so it built higher up. I’d spray Mortien inside that dark crevice if you can’t find where it’s hiding tap the web lightly with a twig and the spider will pop out instantly.
hmmm it could be because neither the sun nor the moon is fully there so it is easier to get attracted to an alternate light source
I used to drive out of town a lot 3/4 times a week, getting home late. On the 3 occasions that I went home 2/3 hours early around 8/9PM the amount of headlamps on just from ppl getting off work and driving home keeps the bugs on the highway for 1/2 hours after dusk bc theyre attracted to the car lights. It'll also save you a lot of time from getting them off your windshield.
As a lighting designer, I suggest lights with glare shields and honeycomb filters for narrow beam up lights, like flag pole luminaries. That will help insects snapping out of it by cutting the unnecessary glare portion, which can be even over 70% of the beam.
Yes, sconce the heck out of external lights. Looks better, aids security, helps not only the neighbors but oneself, is kinder to proximate species, and pollutes the night sky less. That all humans always don't do this is a sign of species degradation. We're insane.
From what I have seen lighting designers have little knowledge about how light really works in the real world but, only how works on computers. They make some of the nastiest lighting ever known. The automotive industry is probably the worst with the newer high power lights on vehicles which have quantitatively shown higher accident rated specifically do to their efforts. Since the lighting manufacturers have had a major financial influence on the DOT those studies are hard often buried or discounted.
My preference is to reduce as much lighting as possible. Not only can we help nature but would reduce electric consumption (pollution?) and actually increase safety. That is only the tip of a very, very long lecture which can be given some other time.
Tesla now has individual pixel headlight beams, they had them project the spelling of TESLA at the opening of Giga Texas, inside the buildings walls. Adaptive matrix headlights, turn off pixels aimed at oncoming headlights.
@@steveforbes8287 I'm not a scientist but I think brighter Yellow head lights are better because of less impact on the pupil so better night-vision retention.
@@denniscerletti2244 VW has it for decades already
It seems like if you create the right shade pattern on the light you could direct the bugs into a region where they could escape / would fly away from a building etc.
Genius
Huh... thats pretty interesting, since this explanation is very similar to what I've always been told. The difference being that the explanation I was given phrased it more like "they try to keep the sun/moon above them in a stationary spot to fly straight, so when they encounter a lamp they mistake it for the sun/moon and get confused" instead of the more complex way this instinct operates.
Since it is so similar to this new explanation, I wonder where it came from?
the astronomers of the world will be glad to hear this, cause using fewer lights at night, and changing to downward facing lights each reduce ambient light pollution, which is better for civilian/urban astronomy, and better for everyone’s sleep cycles
__
Humans are fools who don't understand how lights work.
Or perhaps...because they understand all too well.
They shine lights in each other's eyes, assaulting a thousand strangers every evening, so they will not be able to see the fierce dark universe above their heads. They fear its weight, its infinite heft, its infinity. They fear the very idea of it. They shine lights into the eyes of the wee creatures as an act of revenge against those who take delight in the night forest. Everywhere humans go they lay waste to the world. Truly the saddest creatures in the galaxy, these humans, and because of their deeds, they fear the dark. --Thor
Well let's hope that urban executives listen to urban designers. Light pollution is just not taken very seriously unfortunately.
Ok but how do I get my boyfriend to stop looking at tiktok before he sleeps
@@JundArbiter Upload a virus on their servers and delete everything. You'll do humanity a service.
Just wait until EU regulators start getting at this 😂
Poor green house farmers
I remember reading this in a Richard Dawkins book about how insects use the sun and moon to reorient themselves. The mechanism by which they do it has evolved with the fact that both of those light sources produce, practically, plane wave-fronts of light because they are practically at infinity. But then we humans introduced artificial light which creates spherical or cylindrical wave-fronts and hence mess with their reorientation mechanisms.
Yes, and the book, if it's "The Selfish Gene" you're referring to, was written in 1976, so nothing really so new here, even if it was in a part added in the 40th anniversary edition.
@@alessandropizzotti932 that's the exact one.
@@alessandropizzotti932 The raw data is new
Always so glad to see people mention that book. Best read of my life.
This comment makes me wonder about artificial light plus now G radiation messing with OUR “reorientation mechanisms”
This was actually extremely fascinating. Leaving this video with knowledge that goes beyond
I don’t quite understand how we were “completely wrong” about this. This is pretty much how insects’ attraction to light has been explained to me in my childhood.
Yeah, it's rather click bait-y
remember that science constantly advances and some people were born too early for that information to make it to their curriculum. videos like this are important so everyone can catch up!
When I have a house full of flies, because of a bad screen or door left open, here is my trick. If you turn on the cable TV to the channel that doesn’t receve (usually either 3 or 4), it will be a very appealing blue light. At dark, turn off all the other lights and just have the blue screen glowing. All the flies will land on it and you can scoop them up 4 or 5 at a time, with a clear plastic cup and postcard (we call it the taxi). Then they can be carried outdoors until they’re all outside. Works like a charm.
I also give taxi rides, jainist style. Other times I just turn on a light to a room I'm not using and then close the door aft 5 min , so I eat unabated
Or just fix your screen lol 😅
Awesome, will try this sometime
lots of time on your hands?
@@williamfowler616 no, more Jainist.
Re: colour - it wasn't a formal study, but I once set up a lighting installation with large areas of white canvas illuminated by red, green and blue light. I noticed that different species and sizes of insects tended to accumulate on the different colours.
Now someone may get a new essay to write.
This could be a reference to deeper study for specific insects being attracted to specific spectrum.
You could actually formulate a study on this based on something like wavelength on the visible spectrum
you're about to change lives!
please write officially something about it
I'd be curious to see if there is any correlation between the colors they "orbit" around and the colors of plants they typically feed off of/pollinate.
Thank you for this information/ education. It makes me sad 😢. It is self evident that all living beings need rest and that day, dusk, night, and dawn rhythms are important. I hate blarring bright street lights that never let the trees and animals sleep. I never understood why in high rise buildings or corporate buildings lights are left on.
You think this is horrible, but it doesn't end here. Something that i discovered while trying to catch a small insect that was bothering me was that everytime i hit it, or i got close (thus creating a shadow or a wind current) was that it kicked in this insect the "evasion mode", which involves flying faster and most of the times performing a straight fast spiral towards the ground. One day i was mesmerized by the insect flight around a lamp i discovered a horrifying fact: A LOT of insects were performing these evasion movements. So i came up with a thought: Not only the insects are trapped by the light and can't escape, but the fact that other bigger insects are flying around too make the smaller insects to enter in a panick/evasion mode. So not only every light you see at night is a trap, but also a terror hell. I invite you all to get some high ground in a city at night and watch all the small lights in the landscape. And now enjoy your day. XD
Omg...
outside they just kinda become vending machines for bats and shit
Damn
I replaced an outdoor porch light with a warm frequency LED bulb. The flying insects disappeared. All of them! My conclusion was that it was the ultraviolet light that one might find normally in a daylight bulb that attracts them. The warmer frequency still looked like normal lighting to me but for the insects it made all the difference in the world.
what model LED did you use?
This wS my thought. I would bet it has a lot to do with the frequency or vibration being produced.
A warm light would look similar to a fire, so maybe a lot of bugs instinctually avoid fires.
Except that normal LED lights do not emit ANY UV light. Not even "near UV" frequencies. White LEDs use an actual blue emitter with a coating to shift the color to a variety of white but it isn't UV. I suspect that it might in fact be light closer to white in the visible range that is causing this. Maybe even blueish light.
I found similar using the LED color bulbs. I figured this out on accident last season because it was attracting so many bugs that we couldn't open the door without hundreds flying in, so I replaced the bulb and changed it to blue, red, and other colors trying to mimic the yellow "bug light". The insects do not gather around it nearly as much if at all, and you can set them bulb on a timer with the remote to turn off. Blue, green, orange, and red seem to work really well for us. Makes sense, when I use a UV flashlight to search for horn worms in the garden, every insect on Earth is ramming my nose into oblivion.
I'm interested how this applies to screens. I've noticed that moths & other bugs often land on laptop screens at night and then they just walk on it, without flying away
They do this on windows and walls near a light source despite being capable of flight, which would continuously expose the dorsal side to the source in a wall situation but the ventral side in MANY window situations. (They stick to the door until they can come inside, install a lever door handle for your knee or parumpus so both hands are free for the impromptu flamethrower)
@@nateanderson2797 Doesn't quite explain the laptop thing tho. I have often wondered this myself, since it's usually a specific type of insect that does it. I'm guessing other insects may avoid humans, but that one type of insect doesn't see us predatory or a threat, so will constantly fly onto screens with humans right in front of it, whereas other insects will orbit other lights which will be free of humans in general.
Wow this is some real cosmic horror stuff. They're literally getting trapped in some strange device made by beings far beyond their comprehension. When trapped in it, it's like that classic horror trope of going into a fog, or down a hallway, or through a doorway only to end up right back where you were with no comprehension of how long it's been
The funny thing about this is that any diver could have answered this question.
"You have to ask the right question."
The question is: How do you know which way is up?
When you're standing on the ground you have no difficulty knowing which way is up. "It's the direction from my feet towards my head."
When you are plunged into deep water when it's dark you're not supposed to try to swim to the surface. Why? You might wonder. Because you're about 50% likely to be swimming deeper down instead of up. You can't tell which way is up when you're floating underwater. How do you know which way is up when you're SCUBA diving? It's the direction towards the light, of course.
Disclaimer: Yes, you can feel the pull of gravity to some extent when you're diving. But not a lot. Orienting yourself by the light source is much more effective. Go dive a mudhole dive and see how well that works for you. It is incredibly easy to get disoriented. Which is another reason why cave diving is insanely dangerous. Now the question I'm left with is: How do deep water fishes know which way is up? How about whales? They can dive amazingly deep. Down where there just isn't any light any more.
Strange. I thought this was already established knowledge for a long time now. I mean, this was actually the explanation I was given when I was a kid. That they instinctively reorient themselves according to light sources as if they were the sun or the moon, and since they're so close to the light, they keep reorienting themselves. This is what I, and many people I know, already believed for decades.
Maybe they only just now verified this theory.
Believed but not proven. They have just proven it now.
Erm that is covered in the video, the old hypothesis was about attraction, this is not attraction but instead it's pure reflexes if you really think about it, for an analogy imagine something that causes your body balance to get wrecked while you're just doing normal walking and automatically you're naturally without any thinking trying to not fall over and over again.
just wait till they apply the data through AI and actually ask a question of quality beyond the human designated 'line of understanding' only to find that the question asker is also in the same experience as that they are observing. No doubt that we Innately have a deeper sense of knowledge in Natural Laws and Cosmic Orders than scientist keep recompiling their theories and adding a new headline~
my math textbook literally said they used parallel light from distant sources for flight and that was why they were fucked up by close sources
Dang. Bugs used to scare me when at night and always seeing them close to lights near walkways. Now I just feel extreme pity and sadness for them in equal measure. Side note: It's crazy how once something is discovered, you can notice it instantly when knowing what to look for. Up until we know what's happening we just have no idea. Even with it literally flying in front of our faces. Science is absolutely amazing
Human children with more consciousness than bugs are exterminated everyday through abortion.
The lights around here at night, are so bright, even the birds think 3AM is the middle of the day.
I'm sick of it.
really cool and interesting stuff! i hope we will get better light design in the future due to these discoveries
Insects also seem to be attracted to radio sources. I've worked with 2.4Ghz radios that are commonly used for wifi applications, and I find that if they are mounted outdoors then they often get swarmed by clouds of insects much like a light bulb would. It seems like they are affected by a wider range of the electromagnetic spectrum than just visible light.
Wasps and spider love to sit on the cameras outside my house. There has to be something about electronic components.
@@kopiko10 i bet it's because the router is a nice warm safe place
Uhhhh EVERYTHING is that is electro magnetic. Like us.
I've found bugs to be far more attracted to flourescent lights more than LEDs. I had always assumed it was due to the 60 Hz humming of the ballasts and/or some kind of UV leakage from the flourescents. 60 Hz isn't quite 2.4 GHz but there may be some 2.4 GHz range noise coming from the ballast as well.
I always thought they were attracted to warmth instead of electromagnetic spectrum
Using long, dim light sources (such as an LED strip) instead of a bright point source like a spotlight to light up your area would seem like a solution to not trap the bugs in a specific orbit, but allow them to follow the general light direction out of the area. It's also more pleasant for humans, to have a soft light coming from a big source instead of a harsh point source.
The
The
If I can only convince my neighbours.
agreed@@lpc9929
or you know ... put up a bug screen in your room.
When I was a child and asked my grandma why do insects fly to light she said that they sleep during the day and when it darkens they desperately want to go towards the light to go to sleep more. I like that explanation
I’m only halfway through but I got to the point of dorsal orientation and it all clicked. Being a fish keeper of many species through many years made it make immediate sense. Now to watch the second half to make sure there’s no detrimental caveats…
That was what I was taught many years ago, that they were used distant bright lights which allowed them to fly in a straight line. This instinct was confused by close bright object which caused them to fly around while try to roughly keep the same angle to the light source. The sun and the moon are not going to change angle as they fly roughly straight.
interesting
Ya that was always my understanding too. I learned this as a small boy.
Well, now we have definite answer on that
Likewise
Less light pollution would be great for those of us who like to look up.
It's got so much worse since I was a kid.
weird. it has gotten massively BETTER for me. around 10 years ago they started changing all night lights in my city from those amber flood lights to narrow downward-facing leds. I used to be able to see light pollution of my city from 150km away, easy. Now, it's not visible anymore at that distance, and from upclose it's just a dull colorless light. like the city is always bathed in a full moon. a massive improvement. i can actually sky-watch at home. i mean, it's still shitty, but i used not to be able to see meteor showers and satellites at all. now i can.
I now live in an age of starless skies.
Now, kids don't even know there is such a thing a stars - except in SciFi movies. Years ago, laying on your back looking at the immensity of the starfield led to Deep Thoughts.
So - u didn't see the movie " Don't Look Up" ?? 😱😱
lightbulbs are literally THE symbol of technology and ingenuity💡💡
I would much rather see human created lights than some gay stars ⭐🏳🌈
Good study! This is similar to what I learned in the 1970s, that artificial light has rays going in all directions as opposed to the sun and the moon who's light rays are parallel. Basically the insect tries to navigate to what it thinks are parallel rays, but they aren't. This causes them to circle and spiral the light. It's easier to understand with illustrations. The dorsal sensing is new and seems to fit well with the parallel natural light rays vs circular or omnidirectional.
The going round and round the light thinking they're going straight, occasionally bashing their heads against unseen, immovable forces, being trapped in a pattern, involuntarily orbiting the shiniest object until something comes along and snaps them out of it ... What a metaphor for modern humans.
This is essentially the explanation my dad gave me in the 1980s. I was actually asking about gravity, how maintaining velocity at a right angle to a point will orbit you about that point, and he used the insects on our porch as a tool for visualization. So the idea must have been around for a long time, and only now did someone produce enough evidence for it to be worth publishing. That feels crazy, and I wonder how many other things in the world are widely and correctly believed but not rigorously demonstrated.
I came here looking for this comment! This is the explanation my dad gave me back in the 1990s. I seem to remember that he read it somewhere.
My dad told me that in the 1960s. I’m sure the theory goes back hundreds of years.
I'm going to file this in the "how many Einsteins has humanity missed out on because they were too busy surviving extreme poverty to advance anything" slot in my brain.
@@eyesofthecervino3366
My grandfather, father, and I, have been discussing the family traits of
“the unfortunate genius” since the late 40’s . We request to be filed as well. And would like to inspect said slot as well, for data comparisons.
Thank you.
Like the "fact" that earth is spinning and revolving around the sun. Which is easily proved to be false just by observing the night sky 🌉 ✨
I'm sure I read this explanation decades ago. If you try to keep your flight path at a constant angle in relation to a nearby object you'll either spiral in or spiral out. If the object is far away (like the moon) then keeping your flight path at a constant angle means you fly straight.
Me too. The only thing that was new to me was the idea that they were trying to keep their back to the light.
@@NeutroniummAlchemistI read that information with the back in a shitpost science diagram group 😂
@@NeutroniummAlchemist it was very sad to see them flying upside down when the light source was poniting up.
Indeed, it has been known for years that the reason was the insects' navigation system, so to speak, relative to the moon or the sun, being messed up by artificial light. Their point of reference being messed up, they end up spiraling. I read about experiments done in this light (pun intended) in a book by Richard Dawkins in 2006. Now the part about the back of the insects may be the novelty here, and this new research piece may explain in more detail this phenomenon, but the basic mechanics, as I understand, were already well established.
Exactly. I knew this as a child, and that was --- quite a while back.
I have many water troughs for my horses. When the moon is bright there are a lot more moths drowned in the water. Reflections seem to disorient them as well.
I don't quite understand how this is a new study. Haven't we known this forever? This is literally the first and only explanation I have ever heard about insects being attracted to light. And I heard it when I was a child.
Maybe it was expectation back then but now it's actually confirmed
Another good reason to start reducing the amount of light we use at night [along with actually getting to see the night sky again :) ]
Soo what do we do to reduce criminal activity 😅
@@illuminati_Bal If more people had guns to protect themselves, criminals would be more scared of doing crime which affects others.
The one big problem with that is people can see in the dark.
Funny you mentioned that, I was thinking about that. May be enough to have all nighttime lights be those 'sensor' lights that activate when they sense motion. Might actually help with criminal activity because it has the added benefit of drawing people's attention to an area where light just popped on . . .
yellow lights for houses and roads; insects can't see that, won't affect them.
Anton the one thing that caught my attention was when you mentioned light pollution. I grew up on a rural farm in the 1960's I live now in the North Metropolitan Area of Atlanta. I am in the Interstate highway corridor not far from Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Plant and the urban sprawl in general. The light here at night looks like dusk until morning. To an old guy like me, it seems sometimes like the stepped into the Twilight Zone.
I remember watching out in the pasture on a hill for the Echo Satellite to go by in the sky only filled with stars, seeing Science Fiction come to life. It's all Science Fiction now too, but without any magic.
Light pollution is horrendous.
This comment feels beatiful somehow, in a poetical sense
I am in suburban Queensland. The guy who lives beyond my back fence
keeps his lights on at night, spoiling the darkness. My ambition, being a townie,
is one day to see the stars in a really black night sky.
@@smkh2890 I'm also in suburban Queensland, more specifically Logan (don't hold it against me) and the council chambers have the brightest most horrendous lights on all night, there's 0 hope of stargazing around my area, drive a few hours west however and you can get what you dream of.
@@v1298 I was about to leave a comment on how tragic and poetic this comment was ahahahahah
I was always told it messed up their navigation systems because they are used to the light of the moon. Glad to have a more in depth understanding now!
This is so interesting! Thank you for sharing! ❤
I remember insect light globes that cast a yellow/orange light, that insects can't see easily. Doing a search, I found that they still make bug resistant LEDs today.
I remember those too. They didn't seem to interfere with the insects very much
Yes, we used to use those "bug lights" on our porch. They affected very few insects.
I use something like that and still get a ton of bugs
Moths are hard wired to fly towards the light of the moon. When street lamps interrupt this instinct, they’re actually interrupting a fixed action pattern designed to increase their ability to reproduce by locating pheromones.
@@mavisedwardshow about experimenting with different colours? Maybe changing colours? Else, maybe an intermittent fan?
For many years I would spray for spiders at people's homes, 50 years to be exact. I would tell them to replace their lights with yellow lighting and then they wouldn't have the insects coming to the light and they wouldn't have the spiders coming for the meal. I had a lot of happy customers that no longer needed me. Frequency has a lot to do with a lot of things that we cannot see
I work in pest control too. What light makes MORE insects? So I have more work. Mwahahaha
Oh wow.... like a canoe in an eddy. Thanks for this, been driving me nuts for a LOT of years
😮 so the "navigating by the moon" theory was correct, essentially
And also, they're basically getting caught in the bug equivalent of an eldritch location and can't figure out why no matter how long they fly, they can't get any further away
No. As per the video, it's not for navigation, it's just for "which way is up" i.e. it's part of the basics of flying, _not_ which direction they're flying in (they're not flying in any direction relative to the Moon, they're just exploiting the fact that the brightest light is "up").
(it'd be like us saying we use gravity to navigate because its pull tells us where down is - sure, we need to know how we're oriented _to_ navigate but it's not navigation itself)
@@anonymes2884 I think that's what people mean when talking about navigation though. Similarly, people also say seafarers used the stars for navigation.
@@jojojo9240 It's like you're on the open ocean and look on your compass, but north keeps changing. ^^
Basically, the bugs don't expect the "Moon" to be so close that they pass it in seconds. That's why they keep doubling back on themselves.
@@fredneecher1746but they don't fly towards rhe moon do they and they fly towards light bulbs and bang against them like mad. Even screens. Now forgive me I'm wrong but when we navigate with a compass we don't go north and keep banging off the north Pole. We actually go in other directions while keeping in mind that the sun oor thee north is in a particular place.we don't go towards the thing we use to navigate..
I watched a tornado of moths fly into a fire we had out in the desert outside of town. Ive seen this before but not on the scale that happened that night. There was millions of moths at a rate that is hard to fathom ..making the flames go from about 2 foot high into a tornado of moth fire over 15 foot high...the next day there was the biggest pile of dead moths as far as 25 feet away from the fire pit in some places a foot deep.
That's horrible.
That's moth genocide
That's wonderful!😊
@@duckduckgoismuchbetter : Moths are actually useful, so _not_ wonderful.
@@DesertSessions93 Yes, exactly.
God dammit I saw once of you're videos months ago and I loved them but I forgot to subscribe. The algorithm didn't suggest none from you and I forgot your name, suddenly you pop up. Instant subscription. Keep up the good work 💪
It's wild that this study is new. I was told this explanation back at uni in 2002.
Light pollution? Imagine how many insects we are affecting. When we tug on something in nature, we usually find it attached to the rest of the world.
True that i pulled a donkey dong back in 2020 and the world changed forever
@Crikey420 In nature, nothing exists alone; everything is connected
But in that case then why do they for example land on the window, facing the light and then continuously move towards said light source from behind said window?
@thefirstonyoutube the reflection off the window? That would be my guess
.
Thank you Anton, I hope we can help them.
Many thanks for sharing this discovery.
Take care
I love bugs! I would love to see results on different colored lights. This is sad. Thanks Anton. In case anyone hasn’t told you today, you’re wonderful too.
Similar behaviors tend to happen with any creature who lose their method of maneuvering. We see the same thing happen with inner ear issues due to pressure or other causes. Suddenly you're unable to move properly despite keeping all other senses intact. Or when people are lost, they also tend to move in circles. They're not caused by the same factors, but the behaviors happen for similar reasons, losing senses that helps us maneuver. Same can happen with ants when they go into a death spiral. You lose an important maneuvering sense, and you end up walking in circles until you die.
I've read that blinded humans walking in spirals may actually be an intended evolved trait, as it keeps you from getting too far from the safety of the rest of your primate troop. Whereas this is an evolved response working against the animal. But I don't know if that's confirmed
a lot of animals instinctivly use light for something. for millions of years it was just a NATURAL, consistent thing. sun up, sun down. humans messed that up with artificial lights.
The light orientation behaviour doesn't happen because of losing senses, it's the opposite, it's because they have a sense of where the light is.
The previous theory that they were blinded by the light is a myth / disproven.
This is a good example of the generalisation fallacy:
"The behaviours happen for similar reasons, losing senses that help us manoeuvre."
What is true though, is you have listed some things that can have movement related consequences, which is nice. But (1) they don't actually all have losing senses as a commonality. And (2) circling doesn't necessarily happen with 'any creature' that loses a sense or ability to manoeuvre.
@@bardsamok9221 This is a good example of intentionally-misinterpreting-what-someone-says-so-you-can-come-with-an-oppositional-reply fallacy.
I consider it actually hopeful, we might now be able to engineer new light sources to counteract this effect.
Great video once again 👍
Thanks for that Anton. I have a beehive next to my house. Around the end of summer I get loads of outcast bees coming in at night attracted by our house lights. It’s very sad to watch knowing that they’re making their final flights. It’s also incredibly annoying because they make a lot of noise, especially as they get closer to the light source. They stop the moment the light is switched off though. Such is nature’s way I suppose.
On the other hand, maybe we could start creating little "light paths" to lead the bugs out from our houses and yards and into our neighbor's yard.
Evilly clever
Less amusingly but more practically, perhaps these arrows could guide pollinators.
@@peterd9698 I was thinking about that, but we'd still have to shut the lights off to allow the insects to follow their pollinator instincts. The strong light source clearly overrides other instincts.
How would you make them choose the direction away from your house?
No,nie,z sąsiadami żyję dobrze
i read about it about 20 years ago, the paper even mentioned which neurons got activated and had a drawing of angles changing when approaching an artificial light. so I guess rediscovered discovery... about this "why insects do not orbit moon" (about 10:00 in the video) - it was also addressed in the paper - natural light sources are from the perspective of a moth totally static no matter how long the insect flies - the angle to the ground stays the same and the right neurons stay activated when the moth flies straight.
Could you link that older paper you read? I'd like to take a look.
@@KidStradivarius unfortunately I don't even remember the journal. must have been something regarding evolutionary biology by gauging my interests at that time.
Amazing info! Thanks for sharing!
I love your video man! thanks
Reminds me of a holiday I had years ago in an A frame loch side cabin in Scotland. My friends left their balcony doors open and bedroom light on. When they went up to bed in the early hours of the morning, the walls of the room were completely black with insects! Interestingly, none of them were flying around.
Got rid of them pretty quickly by turning the outside light on instead, but I will never forget it; gruesome and spectacular in equal measures.
So you would think they fly towards the light?
@@jelleroggenI would think given that they orientate their back to the light, if you have two rooms each with their own light, and take turns flipping the switch in each room, you might get an instance where the insect doesn’t get attracted to the light but is “captured” by it. If the insect is in one room and you flip the switch so now the light is in the other room, the insect will orient itself away from the light, but, due to the close proximity or obscurity from say the doorframe, the insect will correct for the change in light by sweeping around the room it currently is in until the highest luminosity of light is normal to their back. In this case the insect would find its way into the other room with the light that is on and then orbit around it as in the video. So they’re not following or being attracted to it, it’s more as if light exists and isn’t diffuse enough it will just optimize the differential of light between their back and their front, which ironically means they’ll move out of the dark room and into the lighter one, or if not, will grasp the wall opposing the light in the dark room.
@@_vizec Yeah you explained it better than I could. The cabin was in the middle of nowhere, no street lights or anything for miles around, so I reckon that's why we got so many little visitors. Makes sense that they flew in and eventually landed on the walls with their backs to the light in the centre of the room, on the ceiling.
Not sure how we would have got rid of them if there hadn't been an outside light: as soon as we switched the lights over they starting flying towards it. Not sure if the pitch black surroundings contributed but I think it probably did.
Never even thought to take a pic, was in the days before smart phones, but we had cameras, guess we were too shocked to think about it, but really wish we had, what a sight!
The dreaded Scottish midge maybe ? They've literally driven unwary holidaymakers back whence they came. I remember going into a campsite washblock that had two fluorescent lights and seeing two almost perfect lines of midge corpses, maybe a centimetre deep, on the floor under each bulb (and back before I knew better, i've had times up in the Highlands in summer genuinely struggling to breathe without inhaling them, the little buggers were so thick in the air - I don't go without plenty of insect repellent and a headnet now).
(near water from about May to September is the worst place/time for them and of course that, unfortunately, is arguably where/when most people visit too)
@@anonymes2884 Haha you're not wrong there, I'm Scottish so I've had many encounters with them, I remember Loch Lomond being really bad, although I think they installed loads of midge killing machines a while back.
I seem to remember it being mainly giant moths at the cabin, with a various other wee beasties in between!
This isn't a new explanation. This explanation is exactly why I've always known why insects gather around light. They use a bright light source as a navigation vector. If they happen to be traveling slightly away from the source, they will spiral away until it's too dim to influence them. And if they are traveling slightly toward it, they will spiral in and get trapped.
That's always been the explanation.
Yeah this is exactly the same as a human trying to follow a straight path according to a compass. As you approach the emitter (earths poles) you will spiral around it until you reach the pole.
Except insects arent sentient so they have no idea their sensors are failing
seems they don't have an inertial reference unit installed
Maybe this could be used to make a configuration of lights to guide bugs out of indoor spaces without needing us to be there.
Honestly, giving every outside light generous upper-coverage would help A LOT of things.
My friend had a tray under his light to collect insects that had fly so long they had no more energy, it put them in the shadow and down there it was a bit of sugar water to keep them alive, the area they landed in was like a plate that had no walls. Now we got an idea for next summer to make make light that turn off 10 to 15 second every 5 minute and then just have two lights a bit separated, and hopefully this break the pattern and let them fly away.
Maybe just get a motion detector so your light is only on when needed?
what's the light for? just use a switch
It wont. This is very inaccurate based on bad research.
Interesting! We have solar motion activated LED lights. They stay on continuously at night but remain very dim, just enough to see around the area. When motion is detected they brighted up for a time and then go back to dim mode. No insects! 👍
Good Idea 👍💡
That t-shirt goes really well with the topic.
great job. Something I have always been curious about. Explanations didn't make sense to me.
Thank you and those people who tested all that🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙇🏽♂️🙇🏽♂️🙇🏽♂️
We (Utah farming families) discovered in the 1950s that insects are far less attracted to yellow lights than white lights so for evening and night parties we always used deeply tinted yellow lights.
And UV is used for the zappers to attract them.
@@whig01 I like zappers
@@ddrigmaiden
The light-receptors on their backs are probably be far more sensitive to near-UV and UV wavelengths.
Makes sense, white light is the closest to natural sunlight of which they would be adapted to. Filtered light might have less of an effect because they haven’t evolved to sense it as well, or maybe to them it doesn’t “feel” as natural as sunlight.
@@whearts Bug gore gets on the surrounding walls 😹😹
I think you could turn this to your advantage. If you had plants you wanted to pollinate, you could set up a light over it. Once you've attracted a bunch of insects, turn it off for awhile. Then turn on a light over a different patch of plants. Rinse, repeat.
I wonder how much using a motion detector to shut off the light when motion is detected for at least a few minutes could help in this system
Unfortunately, this idea ignores the fact that pollinators actively seek plants to pollinate and would only be caught in the light trap when they are almost upon one. Wasting their time and energy when they approach such a plant will reduce pollination, not increase it.
What a bright idea. Might need a little polishing, but with enough time and attention I think this could be made effective.
The logistical nightmare youd be signing up for, just to pollinate.
The physical lighting, the wiring, the power delivery.
What about water proofing? Ick.
It would be more cost effective to just send a few people with small paint brushes for a few hrs to do it manually, (and thats the most expensive of the conventional pollination methods 😅)
This is gonna exhaust the very pollinators you need to flourish.
As an architecture student, I'm looking forward for more discoveries regarding this matter whether the light type or color affects the insects' orbiting system so I can minimize trapping insects in future designs. Thank you!
Think more of human than trapped bugs.
@@jamesmillerjo caring about other living being doesn't mean i don't care about human. We're not the only one living on earth, so be kind to others as well ☺
red lights don't attract insects
(or at least as much)
It also preserves night vision better
This is really interesting stuff, I have noticed my self that light with little blue in them are less attracting (or confusing I guess) for them.
I need a little light when I sleep so I use one that is mostly orange and I rarely see anything go there.
That's a good theory, and listening to it makes sense however it seems to fall apart with one key factor.
Walking and crawling insects also gravitate towards the light. Are they also trying to tell which way is up?
Take for example the common stink bug. It will fly to a lamp with a shade, then "walk" around the top of the lampshade "above" the light. Some will walk around in circles for hours. Others walk down into the shade to get closer to the light. Its quite warm in there.
This indicates they are
1. Sensing the light from a distance and flying to it.
2. Positioning themselves close to the light source apparently for the heat.
And since this theory doesn't account for the same attraction for crawling insects it seems like while this is an intriguing theory there needs to be more study done as there are simply unanswered questions the theory does not address.
And if you think I'm wrong, just stick a solar garden light in your garden and watch the bugs perambulate around it all night until the battery dies out.
The study was about flying insects like moths. Perhaps there is another study about walking or slithering insects around artificial light sources. I found this enlightening as a non-scientist.
Probably just an evolutionary trait from a common ancestor… I mean most walking insects can also easily climb walls and ceilings so the trait still fully makes sense
Beetles being attracted to light is presumably a different mechanism than lepidopters and flies (both of which are panorpids)
You're absolutely right. This study was far from comprehensive with only 500 videos with only a few orientations of light fixtures. It seems they didn't even test their hypothesis after reaching their conclusion, by setting up multiple sources of light to see how it effected their flight patterns. What kind of legitimate scientific research doesn't test their hypothesis and attempt to prove themselves wrong? Doesn't seem like any actual science was occurring. There is way too much evidence of insects going towards light instead of the notion of them happening upon it and becoming trapped. Ask anyone who has ever left a television on at night only to see all of the insects in the house congregate into that room only and actively sit on the light rather than fly around confused and trying to only "go straight".
This explanation solves some of the mystery because I've seen flies buzz around my lamp shade for hours when the light is not even on
Yep. This is just an partial answer.
Many insects goes for the light because it means that there is a hole to get out.
Bees will smack their heads on windows till they die.
Flies are more random, and hence more chances to find the open door that leads to the other room, a dark room.
@@ehombanereminds me eerily of genetic algorithms and their various concocted “solutions”
i could see ai doing a moth easily lol
My ex told me the flies are just worshiping their lamp god.
@@sengasengana And we should be respecting their religious beliefs. Maybe even help them by building some lamp god churches for them to attend.
I agree, I stopped most flying insects on my porch just by changing too a yellow bulb.
You're right, it's sad. Hopefully people now with this information can be kind and turn off unnecessary outside lights around their houses.
Thank you for this channel
I'm glad you mentioned colour towards the end. We use yellow light around the camp at night and it significantly reduces the number of insects in camp.
Great content. Very informative.
Red light is good too
I'm pretty sure Robert M. Pirsig talked about this decades ago in Zen and thr Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Not sure why this is considered 'new'.
@@radagast7200 Maybe it's something to do with the fact that _Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance_ is a work of fiction and not a peer-reviewed scientific paper. Hope that clears up your confusion!
@@omp199 still. The idea has been around for decades. That was my point.
@@omp199 also, it's not really a work of fiction, at least in the purist sense of the word. If black cleopatra can be 'based on a true story'... then Zen is outright non-fiction.
Anton, you are truly a wonderful person. Only someone like you can emphasize with such tiny creatures and make us aware of the importance of lights for bugs.
Nah nothing matters no one matters 😅
Interesting find. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. With that said, I’ll leave it up to the scientists to figure out a solution. I won’t be losing sleep over this.
Growing up in the Southeast US, we would buy “bug lights” that were yellow to reduce the bugs while using the porch at night.
I grew up in Western Colorado. Back in the 1970s, there used to be big cones of insects attracted to the streetlights at night, all circling around, coming in and out of the darkness. Now, the amount is about 1/10 of what it was back then, barely even making a cone.
Also, I remember driving only twenty or so miles before having to stop and clean off the dead bugs from my windshield. That doesn't happen anymore-admittedly it's way more convenient, but it concerns me that we are extincting many insect species with our pesticides, and we will soon see other animal species going extinct due to what's known as trophic cascades, leading to crop failures due to the lack of pollinators..
I’ve been talking about this for years, the lessening of insects on windscreens, coming in the house at night if you left a window open. I see none at all these days. We have poisoned ourselves to extinction.
Not to worry, AI will help the elite promote tyranny and bring the world under their complete control. Then they end of this age will occur. Time to reconcile with the Father in heaven.
This has happened in Europe as well , I’ve asked this question to people under their thirties and the don’t know what your talking about but I remember years ago the front of the car being stuck with bugs in the summer,not now though
I've noticed the lack of insects around the streetlight too.
@@Alanoffer You probably live in the city. Get a bike without windshield. Once you get hit in your helmet by a freaking b-17 bomber then you will notice how many of these fly around. And I'm telling you this from EU.
This has Always been the explanation I have heard since my Jr. High days. That insects fly perpendicular to the brightest light source as a tropic response to sunlight and moonlight. This usually results in relatively straight paths because the moon and sun are so far away that they do not appear to have any parallax shift, but seem to remain fixed relative to your position. This response, I was told in Biology, is Tropic. Meaning its an inborn response to stimulus that the insect has no volition over. If they fly close enough to a porch light for its light to be stronger than the moon, they will bank towards is and as they pass it, try to keep the incident light perpendicular to their path. Because of parallax shift of the light relative to their motion, their path curves as they pass by, like they are a tetherball spinning around a pole because of the tether.
Fantastic explanation thank you
@@meeeeee423 But wrong, as explained in this video. Insects simply recognise a bright light (Sun or Moon) to be "up", and so keep their backs to it. That way they can stay in the air. Navigation has nothing to do with it.
@@fredneecher1746 Can you further explain why this summary is wrong? Navigation isn’t mentioned at all in the original comment, only tropism, which is what this type of response is. The insects DO try to keep the primary light source perpendicular to their path, that is exactly what the dorsal light reflex causes insects to do.
so then i guess this has been a popular theory for a while but just now proven?
@@littlewyzard AFAIK It was considered proven in 1973 when I first heard it from my biology teacher in lecture about the difference between tropic behaviors and learned behaviors as relates to instincts. e.g. female spiders tend to kill their mates after mating because they have no choice but to see anything that moves and is the right size as food. Evolutionary pressure resulted in males having a tropical behavior to approach a female for mating, dancing and displaying in a way that shut down the females hunting instinct. But once they had mated, evolution offered them no advantage for moving AWAY in the same manner so they might survive. A single mating provided enough sperm to last the female her lifetime. As a result, males ‘know’ how to get a female to mate. But they don’t ‘know’ how to escape once they have. Beyond their gene survival, evolution is done with them and can not drive other tropic behaviors to evolve. It can be argued that most spiders, both make and female, do not even ‘know’ that they are mating. Each behaves in the only way it can given the stimulus it is subjected to.
Very neat. Good to know. Interestingly: Upward-facing light also contributes to the loss of night skies. Think "astronomy" next time you buy outdoor lighting. Lamps that don't light up the sky are better for research, better for bugs.
So a doctor is sitting in his office late one night and hears a knock at the door. He opens it and in walks a giant moth. He sit down in a chair and, with a heavy sigh says, "Doc, my life is a mess. My boss doesn't appreciate me and I'm about to get laid off. My wife left me and took he kids and the dog. My car just broke down and I don't have the money to fix it. I'm depressed and just don't know what I'm going to do." The doctor says, "I'm really sorry to hear you are having such a hard time but I don't think I can help you. You see, I'm a podiatrist." The moth says, "Yes, I know, but the light was on."
That's pretty neat.
Makes me think about when I learned land navigation, it's super important you learn to orient yourself without a compass, because you WILL end up walking in big circles. The Coriolis effect influences our movement, and you will make minute changes to your heading over the course of several miles. It gets worse the shorter your line of sight becomes, to the point in dense forests or jungles, you may end up looping every 3 miles or so.
One of the best examples of this happened on that bear Grylls survivor show where the women got lost, and ended up seeing the same marked trees over and over. There are ways to avoid this, a compass being your best bet (why every person should know how to build a compass), but there are some other tricks, one of which uses a buddy and a reference mark you make (stick in the ground, deliberately placed rock, or a mark on a tree, etc). Land navigation is pretty interesting, and I highly recommend you (as in whomever's reading this) learn how. Sea navigation is a whole other beast, but is also pretty fun to learn, if you plan on doing a lot of boating.
Anyway, makes sense flying bugs would develop a system to orient themselves. You'd think the pull of gravity would be enough, though. Although, I've experienced a situation where I couldn't tell which way was up or down, and I was under water. I dove too deep, tilted my head, and BAM! Ruptured my ear drum. Incredibly intense pain, and I instinctively yelled out in pain, which meant I just emptied my lungs. I was only 15 feet deep, but my vision was tilting then snapping back very fast, and I couldn't tell which way was up. I remembered what my dad taught me at age 5 when I learned to swim, that if you ever lose track of which way is up, go limp, and let yourself float. Your body will naturally float to the surface. When my ear drum ruptured, that's what I did, and it worked. My swim partner helped me get back to the boat and out of the water. Good call not diving by myself.
I feel like maybe I understand what it must feel like to be a bug flying around a light, having no idea which way is up. It's scary, especially if you're getting tired.
neat read. your instinct is sharp
Wait hiw did tilting your head make your ear drum burst? Id live to hear more about it as ive never heard of that sequence of action leading to ear damage. And i cant find any online.
It's not the Coriolis effect. People will walk in circles in both directions. It's just that it's really hard to go in a perfectly straight line without any reference, so you will tend to bend one way or the other. If you keep bending that way for long enough, you complete a circle.
Of course, if the sun is clearly visible, that shouldn't be a problem. But in a thick forest that's completely unfamiliar with no river or trail to follow, and no compass, yeah, you're in a lot of trouble.
lol the coriolis effect will definitely not influence you.
@@Linkopheremaybe difference in where the pressure goes in different orientation?
This is the explanation my dad gave me decades ago when I was a kid. I think he read it in a math journal, where someone had worked out the "orbits" that would be followed by an idealized insect that was treating an artificial light source as if it were the sun or moon.
yea but they dont treat the sun or the moon as a thing to orbit :D
I also learned this several years ago, this is not really a new discovery.
To the commenter, obvs they are not "orbiting" but orienting because the sun is too far away.
@@kosmique Noone ever said they would. They use it for orientation. That has been known for decades, at least. This video doesn´t tell anything new.
I did not know that I needed an explanation of this phenomenon. Glad I learned something new!
What I would find particularly interesting is the effects of different light colors. I remember a town/village which switched to red light for street lights to not disturb bats at night.
So this shows that my favourite theory - that they use the light for navigation - is true. This does not mean that they "fly towards the moon" as implied at the beginning of the video, it just means that they keep the light at a certain angle to your direction of travel. If you do this yourself and keep the sun or the moon directly to your right, on the northern hemisphere around noon you will be going east in a straight-ish line. If you do this with a street lantern, you'll be going in circles.
A solution to this (apart from not using the lights at all, obviously), could be to have at least two lights some distance from each other, and periodically alternate between them. That should allow the insects to "snap out of it" and fly away (if they're not unlucky enough to be "caught" by the other light immediately).
Ah, so the line in the thumbnail, "And it's not at all what we always thought" was bullshit click bait
If there are two lamps they would go toward the brighter one or toward the blue one (UVA one if there is that). Interesting thing is, bugs like more colder lights than warmer ones. That's why UVA lights are used for bug traps. They would not snap, from the light even if there is another light, they will just happen to go to the one which is closer. You can even make an experiment, if a bug is in one room and you turn off that light then turn on the light in another adjacent room the bug will go in the room where there is light.
Yeah wtf so we were completely right not wrong as the title said lol
I heard this theory before too, some years ago already. It makes sense to me.
@@baryonyxwalkeri3957 Indeed;
Horrovac's take on it was the generally accepted explanation, in the parts of the (international) biological sciences community I interacted with, from about forty five years ago. (It was by no means new even then, it's just that I first encountered it then.) Any sailor knows that keeping a landmark or seamark at a constant angle off the bow causes the vessel to travel in a circular arc about that mark.
It does crack me up when someone finds out some well known fact, and solipsistically assumes that they're among the first to be in on it.
TFG is about the most puerile and extreme example in public life. He would preface it with "nobody knows this but" and go on to say something along the lines of "I just found out (gasp..) Lincoln was actually a Republican !" or "Jefferson owned slaves"
Once in a while birds fly into my partially enclosed porch that has a large opening in the roof and a gate. If it's night time they cannot find their way out due to the flood lights inside, they just fly into the brightly lit walls when trying to encourage them.
I figured out if I turn the lights out so it's dark they can finally find their way out through the ceiling opening from outside lights or the moonlight.
This is a similar concept maybe?
at the beginning when he said that the reason of the bugs doing it will be something saddening i was saying to myself no matter what the reason i i would not feel bad at all since i see all these bugs ruining my room every evening, ngl after hearing out the actual reason it makes sense to me and idk i almost feel like to cry thinking that this things do not even know what heck is on going to them. it is soo much heart wrecking that how much of the ecology is ruined unknowingly by human being just because we wanted to have more comfort.. truly saddening but i wish there were a easy way out..