Australian moth uses starlight to travel thousands of miles
What did scientists discover?
Until now, only humans and certain species of birds and seals were thought to be able to use starlight to navigate long distances.However, it seems a species of Australian month can be added to that list.Bogong moths, are a small species of moth, around three centimetres long, which are named after the Indigenous Australian word for brown.Every year, when temperatures start rising, they set off on a long night-time flight across the country.They fly from their home on Australia's eastern coast to the cool inland shelter of caves in the Australian Alps.A study published in the journal Nature has found that these small insects can also use the light from the stars and our galaxy, the Milky Way, to find their way through the dark skies.
An international team of researchers put some Bogong moths in an enclosure and projected different maps of the night sky onto its ceiling.They then removed the effect of Earth's magnetic field and to their surprise the moths were still able to find the right direction by using the stars.Even when they rotated the sky 180 degrees, the moths changed their flight to follow along. When scientists then projected weird, incorrect maps of the night sky, the moths became lost.Co-author of the study, Eric Warrant from Sweden's Lund University, said: "This is the first invertebrate that's known to be able to use the stars for that purpose."The researchers also believe that near to the end of the moths' long migration, they start noticing clues they are getting close to their mountain shelter.Mr Warrant added he has identified a specific smell which comes from the caves.The smell "seems to act as a navigational beacon right at the very end of the journey," he added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BreakingNews.ie
2 hours ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Nasa's Webb telescope finds a new tiny moon around Uranus
The Webb Space Telescope has spotted a new tiny moon orbiting Uranus. The new member of the lunar gang, announced on Tuesday by Nasa, appears to be just six miles wide. Advertisement It was spotted by the telescope's near-infrared camera during observations in February. We're not sitting on this one, Uranus has another Moon! Webb discovered an unknown moon orbiting the planet, expanding its known satellite family to 29. — NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) August 19, 2025 Scientists think it hid for so long — even eluding the Voyager 2 spacecraft during its flyby about 40 years ago — because of its faintness and small size. Uranus has 28 known moons that are named after characters from Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. About half are smaller and orbit the planet at closer range. Advertisement This newest addition, still nameless, ups the planet's total moon count to 29.
The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
Researchers discovered by accident a possible alternative to LASIK surgery
LASIK eye surgery has been performed successfully in the U.S. since the late 90s, helping nearly 40 million patients to improve their vision through a procedure that cuts into the eye using lasers. Some 600,000 of the Food and Drug Administration-approved surgeries are carried out on American adults each year. Now, researchers say they have come up with an alternative method that wouldn't need invasive incisions and could be cheaper. It uses a process called electromechanical reshaping, which helps to reshape the cornea using electrical current. The cornea is a dome-shaped, clear structure at the front of the eye that helps us to process images. Irregularly shaped corneas are the cause of nearsighted and farsighted vision and astigmatism, and LASIK fixes that by burning away tissue to reshape it. 'The whole effect was discovered by accident,' Brian Wong, a professor and surgeon at the University of California, Irvine, explained in a statement. 'I was looking at living tissues as moldable materials and discovered this whole process of chemical modification.' While the work is in its early stages, it could offer an alternative to LASIK. Although the surgery has been safely performed for nearly 30 years with rare complications, it has some limitations and risks. The surgeons say that cutting the cornea compromises the structural integrity of the eye. This procedure has yet to be performed in humans, but researchers previously used electromechanical reshaping to alter scars and skin in pigs and reshape cartilage-rich rabbit ears. Working with rabbit eyeballs, they constructed platinum 'contact lenses' that served as a template for the corrected shape of the cornea, placing them over a rabbit eyeball in a saline solution meant to mimic natural tears. After about a minute following a small electric charge to the lens, the cornea's curvature conformed to the shape of the lens. That happened in the same amount of time as LASIK, with fewer steps, no incisions, and less expensive equipment. Then, they repeated the step on 12 other rabbit eyeballs. Of those dozen, 10 were treated as if they had nearsighted vision, and the researchers found success. In others, they saw that their technique might be able to reverse some chemical-caused cloudiness to the cornea, which is currently only treatable through a complete transplant of the cornea. In the future, the researchers are planning tests on living rabbits, and looking at far-sightedness and astigmatism. Uncertainties in the team's scientific funding have put those plans on hold, but Michael Hill, a professor of chemistry at Occidental College, will present their findings this week at the fall meeting of the American Chemical Society. 'There's a long road between what we've done and the clinic. But, if we get there, this technique is widely applicable, vastly cheaper and potentially even reversible,' said Hill.
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Orange shark with white eyes seen for 'first time ever' by anglers in Costa Rica
A giant shark was reeled in during a sport fishing trip in Costa Rica that is being hailed as a first-of-its-kind catch. The six-and-a-half-foot-long shark exhibited xanthism, a rare pigmentation condition that causes an excess of yellow or golden tones in the skin, scales or fur of animals. While xanthism has been observed in a few fish species, it has never before been documented in cartilaginous fish, a group that includes sharks, rays, and skates, in the Caribbean. Typically, nurse sharks have light to dark brown skin, which helps them blend into reefs and rocky seafloor habitats where they spend most of their time hunting. Based on the shark's size, researchers from the Federal University of Rio Grande concluded that this unusual pigmentation did not appear to affect its survival. The scientists said in a study: 'The discovery of a yellow nurse shark raises important questions about the genetics and adaptability of nurse sharks. 'Is this a one-time occurrence, or could it signal a new genetic trend in the local population?' Because this coloring makes animals more visible, scientists believe xanthism often lowers survival rates in the wild. Albinism, though slightly better known, is also uncommon and can pose serious challenges to animals that develop it. The absence of melanin results in pale skin, scales, or fur, along with white or red eyes. In the wild, this lack of natural camouflage can make albino animals easier targets for predators and less effective hunters. The condition may also increase sensitivity to sunlight and, in some cases, reduce the likelihood of finding a mate. For this reason, the fact that a nurse shark showing both xanthism and albinism survived into adulthood makes the discovery especially significant. The survival of this vividly colored shark into adulthood also offers a rare glimpse into the adaptability of the species and raises new questions for marine biologists about genetic diversity in Caribbean nurse shark populations. Nurse sharks are benthic predators, meaning they spend most of their time on or near the seafloor, often around reefs and rocky areas. Their typical brownish coloring helps them blend in with the surroundings, making them harder to spot. This shark's bright yellow-orange color, however, would have made it stand out, which makes its survival into adulthood particularly remarkable. It is unclear whether this unusual coloring offers any advantages or if the shark simply managed to thrive despite being more visible.
