Praying mantises get fitted with 3D glasses, watch bug movies

CNET ^ | 01/08/2016 | Eric Mack

[BenLurkin]

Yes, that's right. Scientists actually outfitted the odd insects with tiny 3D glasses to confirm that they actually see and hunt in 3D vision. I've been staring at the below picture for a while now of the green and blue lenses affixed to a praying mantis' head with beeswax and I still can't decide if it's cute or creepy.

Researchers have suspected for years that mantises see in 3D, but scientists from Newcastle University in the U.K. finally hit on the right design of glasses for the insects.

The idea is the same as the old-school red and blue polarized glasses used at 3D movies, but the researchers used green instead of red because the bugs see that color much better. After being fitted with their new custom specs, the creepy-crawly subjects were shown short videos of tasty bugs in 3D, and they struck out at them. When shown the same images in 2D, they didn't go for the bait. (Let's face it, given their habit of decapitating mates, praying mantises probably like their entertainment big.)

...

"Despite their minute brains, mantises are sophisticated visual hunters which can capture prey with terrifying efficiency. We can learn a lot by studying how they perceive the world," Jenny Read, a professor or vision science and leader of the study, said in a release. "Better understanding of their simpler processing systems helps us understand how 3D vision evolved, and could lead to possib"e new algorithms for 3D depth perception in computers."

[ifinnegan]

Thanks.

I do see your comment as saying essentially what I said.

Popular articles on scientific studies are usually poorly done and often the actual basis for the study is not well explained.

[COBOL2Java]

Cite a peer reviewed reference.

LOL

[ifinnegan]

Funny you laugh.

You talk idiocy and can’t back it up.