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Scientists Give Praying Mantises Tiny 3D Glasses

Posted by samzenpus on from the all-the-better-to-see-you-with dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Scientists at Newcastle University are outfitting praying mantises with tiny 3D glasses in order to study how their vision works. From the article: 'Praying mantises have stereoscopic vision, unlike most invertebrates. This makes them sophisticated hunters, and ideal subjects for a team from Newcastle University led by vision scientist Jenny Read. By putting 3-D glasses on the mantises and faking them out, Reid and her colleagues want to learn how the insect's vision differs from ours.""

15 of 55 comments (clear)

  1. Oculus rift: mantis simulator by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Eat your way though eager bachelors, defend your territory against other insects, boss fight nerdy etymologists.

  2. "Different from ours" ?? by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 2

    Reid and her colleagues want to learn how the insect's vision differs from ours.

    I think I'd start with: compound eyes.

    1. Re:"Different from ours" ?? by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 3, Interesting

      By the way: "stereoscopic" vision is hardly unusual in arthropods. Most crabs and shrimp have it. Hunting spiders often have it (not even just "stereo"... more like surround sound). And so on. I am pretty sure a lot of flies can see forward in stereo.

    2. Re:"Different from ours" ?? by AK+Marc · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Perhaps they are making some distinction between stereoscopic and binocular vision. A multi-eye configuration isn't necessarily binocular, even if the eye clusters are separated into two spaces. The eyes are well spread for their size, but they don't move and focus the same, so they may not image the same.

      --
      Learn to love Alaska
    3. Re:"Different from ours" ?? by NoKaOi · · Score: 4, Informative

      By the way: "stereoscopic" vision is hardly unusual in arthropods. Most crabs and shrimp have it. Hunting spiders often have it (not even just "stereo"... more like surround sound). And so on. I am pretty sure a lot of flies can see forward in stereo.

      Are you just citing arthropods that have multiple eyes that can see in different directions? Stereoscopic means that the difference in what the two eyes see can be interpreted as depth (i.e. through parallax). Think of it like stereo vs mono sound. Just because you have two speakers that you point in different directions doesn't mean you have stereo sound even though it might fill the room better than a single speaker, the difference between what's coming out of the two speakers is what makes it stereo.

    4. Re:"Different from ours" ?? by AK+Marc · · Score: 2

      Depends on your definition of "stereoscopic" as that has no technical meaning I know of. The meaning I'd infer is that the brain creates a single image from multiple separate images. When bug eyes are shown in movies and such, it's always as a kaleidoscope image, not a single image, distorted or not. It's never been answered how it appears to the bugs. They don't like talking to researchers.

      --
      Learn to love Alaska
    5. Re:"Different from ours" ?? by michelcolman · · Score: 2

      Dragonflies certainly seem to be pretty good at judging the distance to nearby insects to attack them. And hoverflies as well, are really good at hovering in place and chasing other insects away. Actually, many insects eem to be able to judge distances quite well. Just landing on a flower or a turd wouldn't be easy without stereoscopic vision.

      On the other hand, quite a lot of insects fly round in such a clumsy manner that you wonder whether they even have eyes at all. Crane flies, beetles, heteroptera,...

    6. Re:"Different from ours" ?? by TapeCutter · · Score: 2

      I could be wrong but they don't look like compound eyes to me. Coincidently I recently photographed a large green Mantis in my yard using a macro lens, unlike other large insects it feels like they are looking at you, they have what look like rudimentary pupils in the center of their eyes and turn their head so to follow your movements. The "head cocking" behaviour they display when observing a human is very similar to the way a bird behaves when it looks at you. Another similarity to birds is their reaction to shadows, they instinctively "duck down" when a heavy shadow passes over them.

      Dragonflies are an example of a large insect that definitely does have compound eyes, a swivelling head, and if you've watched them hunt smaller flying bugs it's obvious they have very accurate depth perception. Their eyes allow them to see all directions at once and therefore don't appear to look at you at all, let alone watch your every move for 10-15 minutes while you fiddle with the camera.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    7. Re:"Different from ours" ?? by BaronAaron · · Score: 2

      They have compound eyes like any other insect. They just happen to have Pseudopupils. Compound eyes have pigments that reflect light from wide angles and let straight on light pass through to the photo-receptor.

      Mantis have a high contrast between the two states giving the appearance of a pupil, probably to creep us out a lot more.

  3. Go the whole hog... by Kittenman · · Score: 2

    Give the little fellows 'Google' glasses. See what they make of those.

    --
    "The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
    1. Re:Go the whole hog... by GoodNewsJimDotCom · · Score: 2

      >Give the little fellows 'Google' glasses. See what they make of those.

      The NSA doesn't need any more ideas.

      "Yo dude, I think we're bugged"

      --
      God spoke to me
  4. Finally... by meridien · · Score: 4, Funny

    Great. Maybe they will enjoy the stupid 3D movies that no one else gives a crap about.

    1. Re:Finally... by fustakrakich · · Score: 2

      Preying Mantis porn, they're all snuff films. Cue scary music

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    2. Re:Finally... by SigmundFloyd · · Score: 2

      No. The scientific name is "mantis religiosa", which tells you why praying is right.

      --
      Knowledge is power; knowledge shared is power lost.
  5. And prosthetics by Boawk · · Score: 5, Funny

    Scientists returned to the drawing board after their first field trial of putting the glasses on a praying mantis ended in failure. The team is soon expected to announce the design prosthetic ears for the praying mantises,