Why Bats Crash Into Windows (nature.com)

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Why Bats Crash Into Windows (nature.com)

Posted by BeauHD on Tuesday September 12, 2017 @12:45PM from the Marco-Polo dept.

According to a new report published in the journal Science, Bats slam into vertical structures such as steel and glass buildings because they appear invisible to bats' echolocation system. Nature reports: Bats rely on echolocation to navigate in the dark. They locate and identify objects by sending out shrill calls and listening to the echoes that bounce back. Greif and his colleagues tested the echolocation of 21 wild-caught greater mouse-eared bats (Myotis myotis) in the lab. The researchers placed a featureless metal plate on a side wall at the end of a flight tunnel. The bats interpreted the smooth surface -- but not the adjacent, felt-covered walls -- as a clear flight path. Over an an average of around 20 trials for each bat, 19 of them crashed into the panel at least once. The researchers also put up smooth, vertical plates near wild bat colonies, and saw similar results. The animals became confused owing to a property of smooth surfaces called "acoustic mirroring." Whereas rough objects bounce some echoes back towards the bat, says Greif, a smooth surface reflects all echolocation calls away from the source. This makes a smooth wall appear as empty space to the bats, until they are directly in front of it. Only once a bat is facing the surface are their perpendicular echoes reflected back, which alerts the bat to its mistake. This explains why some bats attempted to swerve out of harm's way at the last second -- but often too late.

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Because Windows is full of bugs? by chuckugly · 2017-09-12 12:54 · Score: 4, Funny

It had to be done.
1. Re:Because Windows is full of bugs? by chuckugly · 2017-09-12 18:18 · Score: 1
  
  Seemed like a good idea at the time?
2. Re:Because Windows is full of bugs? by cc1984_ · 2017-09-12 21:17 · Score: 1
  
  I find that it's flying toasters more than bats that crash in Windows.
3. Re:Because Windows is full of bugs? by zifn4b · 2017-09-13 01:13 · Score: 1
  
  No -- Microsoft has upgraded from bugs to bats. It's full of bats now.
  
  --
  We'll make great pets
4. Re:Because Windows is full of bugs? by mea2214 · 2017-09-13 03:18 · Score: 1
  
  Because the recent forced update bricked my computer.
Re:Stupid Windows by Tablizer · 2017-09-12 13:01 · Score: 5, Funny

Yes, crashing Windows does drive me bats.

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Table-ized A.I.
stealth uses this same function by turkeydance · 2017-09-12 13:02 · Score: 2, Informative

to disturb the accurate reflections of enemy radar
1. Re: stealth uses this same function by Monster_user · 2017-09-12 14:27 · Score: 1
  
  So bats should be able to detect curved surfaces, made of the same material? Does it boil down to how big an objects sonar profile is? (not sure of terminology).
2. Re:stealth uses this same function by ChromeAeonium · 2017-09-12 14:37 · Score: 1
  
  Metro also works on this principle.
3. Re: stealth uses this same function by Immerman · 2017-09-12 18:59 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  The tighter the curvature, the more likely some portion of the surface will be pointed towards the bat, and thus generate a return signal for them to hear.
  Think of it like firing an air-cannon of tennis balls in front of you in the dark (while deaf) - if the expanding cone of tennis balls hits a smooth wall at anything other than almost dead on, all the balls will bounce away from you. On the other hand, if there's any substantial curvature to the wall then some of the balls will probably bounce back at you. When you get hit by the returning balls, you know there's something in front of you,
  
  --
  --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
4. Re:stealth uses this same function by K.+S.+Kyosuke · 2017-09-12 20:17 · Score: 1
  
  If it worked the same way, maybe all you'd need would be a few corner reflectors on the building?
  
  --
  Ezekiel 23:20
5. Re:stealth uses this same function by Trailer+Trash · 2017-09-13 03:30 · Score: 1
  
  to disturb the accurate reflections of enemy radar
  To expand on this a bit, the so-called "stealth bomber" uses this exact effect. All surfaces on the plane are completely flat, meaning the only reflection seen by a radar installation will be from the edge of a wing or something. In practice, the plane looks about like a flying ball bearing to radar. The bomber was first built by the US in the 80s, but it was based on research from the USSR done in the 50s.
  
  --
  Do you have ESP?
6. Re: stealth uses this same function by Obfuscant · 2017-09-13 05:36 · Score: 1
  
  It's called "reflection" versus "scattering". Smooth surfaces reflect. Rough surfaces scatter. And the difference between smooth and rough depends on the wavelength of the incoming wave.
7. Re: stealth uses this same function by amicusNYCL · 2017-09-13 06:48 · Score: 2
  
  I think this is just an excuse for the researchers to be dicks.
  "There's a wild bat colony near my house. Let's put up some glass panels and some cameras."
  
  --
  "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
8. Re:stealth uses this same function by Strider- · 2017-09-13 07:07 · Score: 1
  
  Are you thinking of the (now retired) stealth "fighter"? It was obviously faceted, mostly as an artifact of the computing power available when it was originally designed. The B-2 bomber, on the other hand, uses very specifically chosen curves and angles to avoid any corner reflections or edges that might reflect radar back.
  In addition, there are significant quantities of radar absorbing materials used throughout (think graphite impregnated rubber, and so forth) to reduce the intensity of any reflected energy. The latter is why the maintenance on the aircraft is so expensive, and why they require specialized/airconditioned hangars. The materials do not hold up well in the environment, and need to be repaired constantly, with very specific techniques to maintain the stealth characteristics.
  
  --
  ...si hoc legere nimium eruditionis habes...
Only in soviet Russia by GuB-42 · 2017-09-12 13:04 · Score: 5, Funny

In soviet Russia windows make bats crash.
In capitalist America, .bat make Windows crash.
1. Re: Only in soviet Russia by Monster_user · 2017-09-12 14:29 · Score: 1
  
  lol
2. Re:Only in soviet Russia by hcs_$reboot · 2017-09-12 17:58 · Score: 1
  
  .bat make Windows crash.
  They should definitely open Windows.
  
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  Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
3. Re:Only in soviet Russia by Tablizer · 2017-09-13 09:11 · Score: 1
  
  That also explains the "belfry" folders.
  
  --
  Table-ized A.I.
Are bats really blind? by 140Mandak262Jamuna · 2017-09-12 13:25 · Score: 1

How did this expression blind as a bat come about, I wonder? People must have noticed bats flying in and out of totally dark caves. How come they thought they were blind?

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sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
1. Re: Are bats really blind? by RightwingNutjob · 2017-09-12 17:11 · Score: 2
  
  Bats tend to use very high frequencies (100kHz+ = 3mm wavelength). Humans do most of their talking and hearing below 2 kHz = 15 cm wavelength. At the 15cm level, glass and a brick wall are both featureless and flat reflectors. At the 3mm level, glass is a lot smoother than a brick wall.
2. Re: Are bats really blind? by Sique · 2017-09-12 19:41 · Score: 2
  
  The problem is not the echo-ability as such, but the direction of the echo.
  With a smooth surface, you have the elementary law of reflection: incoming angle equals outgoing angle. That means that only the sound wave that hits the glass plane at exactly 90 degrees will be reflected back into the direction it came from. Thus only the bats flying straight to the glass window will detect it with echo-location. Any bat flying in an arbitrary angle to the plane will not hear the echo, as it is directed away from the bat.
  A brick wall has lots of different angles, and the probability is very high that at least some part of the brick wall will reflect the echo back to the source.
  Basicly this is the same effect stealth technology uses to make objects invisible to radar: plane surfaces will not reflect anything back to the source except for the quite improbable case to be hit directly at a 90 degree angle.
  
  --
  .sig: Sique *sigh*
3. Re: Are bats really blind? by Strider- · 2017-09-13 07:11 · Score: 1
  
  A brick wall has lots of different angles, and the probability is very high that at least some part of the brick wall will reflect the echo back to the source.
  Assuming the mortar has been pointed properly, and so forth, a brick wall (and virtually anything else) will have a significant number of corner reflectors that will reflect ultrasonic frequencies right back to the transmitter (aka the bat). Think of it like the cat-eye reflectors on roads, or the corner reflectors left on the moon. No matter what angle you hit them with, after a double/triple bounce, it comes right back in the direction of its originator.
  
  --
  ...si hoc legere nimium eruditionis habes...
4. Re: Are bats really blind? by Gornkleschnitzer · 2017-09-18 06:46 · Score: 1
  
  Bad jokes? Surely you mean... bat jokes? I'll let myself out now.
Re: OMG by richardellisjr · 2017-09-12 13:34 · Score: 1

Ya, the funny thing isn't who you think it is.
it a shity pc port! by Joe_Dragon · 2017-09-12 13:43 · Score: 1

https://www.pcgamesn.com/batma...
Obvious by DontBeAMoran · 2017-09-12 13:44 · Score: 1

We need to install bat-signals into our homes.

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#DeleteFacebook
Birds also crash into large glass walls by Gabest · 2017-09-12 13:44 · Score: 4, Funny

Even I hit a very clean glass wall once, thinking it was the exit.
1. Re:Birds also crash into large glass walls by blindseer · 2017-09-12 14:52 · Score: 2
  
  On the farm as a kid I wondered why there were all these pigeon feathers in front of the large ventilation fan in the wall of the barn. It was a very large fan, something like 3 feet across, and had very little for a protective mesh. My questions were answered one day when I opened up the barn door and startled a pigeon that got in the barn somehow. It took off for the running fan and... feathers everywhere. I realized why I never saw a dead pigeon when I saw one of the barn cats wander over to look for meat.
  Also while living on the farm we'd hear the birds "thud" against the walls of the sheds, barn, and house. Turns out that birds run into things, even bright red sheet metal siding. Once in a great while we'll see the dead birds lying on the ground from hitting the walls before the cats found them. The cats did well in cleaning up that mess though, they'd find them eventually.
  
  --
  I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
2. Re:Birds also crash into large glass walls by wickerprints · 2017-09-12 17:50 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Indeed. And the underlying physical principle is similar, except instead of sound waves in the case of bats, it is light waves in the case of birds. For example, if the sky is reflected in glass, a bird can fail to see the obstacle.
  Few natural structures exhibit the kind of macroscopic reflectivity of man-made walls or glass windows. Bats and birds did not evolve sensory mechanisms to avoid collisions with these.
3. Re:Birds also crash into large glass walls by hcs_$reboot · 2017-09-12 17:53 · Score: 1
  
  yes but the matter here is that bats use a sonar, you don't.
  
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  Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
4. Re:Birds also crash into large glass walls by jez9999 · 2017-09-12 20:20 · Score: 1
  
  I don't really understand this. Humans use light to figure out where glass is too, and we can tell. Why can't they?
  
  --
  == Jez ==
  Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
5. Re:Birds also crash into large glass walls by Desler · 2017-09-13 01:39 · Score: 1
  
  Humans run into glass doors as well. I've seen it happen numerous times.
6. Re:Birds also crash into large glass walls by Talderas · 2017-09-13 05:24 · Score: 1
  
  Humans are abnormal and understand the concept of reflections. If you want to fuck with people, create an automatic door for your lobby made out of pure glass. No non-glass pieces anywhere other than perhaps at the bottom or top of the door to secure it shut when the building is closed. Keep the window perfectly clean so that there is no surface indicators there is glass. You will have people run into it.
  
  --
  "Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
Re: OMG by lucm · 2017-09-12 14:16 · Score: 2, Funny

Let's see how many comments on this story will NOT be jokes about Microsoft Windows or Batman

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lucm, indeed.
Re: That's why by Monster_user · 2017-09-12 14:21 · Score: 1

Or down through the ceiling, always makes for a good entrance.
But bats are endangered and we can do something by bussdriver · 2017-09-12 15:17 · Score: 2

Many birds have gone extinct because of us and we didn't know or if we did we didn't do anything; besides, we have lots of tiny birds and losing multiple species of tiny birds because of our house cats. We don't have tons of bats and they have a different job-- a better job: eating annoying bugs.

--
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
1. Re:But bats are endangered and we can do something by Antique+Geekmeister · 2017-09-12 18:53 · Score: 1
  
  Many birds also eat bugs. Bats may be more effective, on an individual basis, but there are _many_ more birds in most ecosystems.
2. Re:But bats are endangered and we can do something by Hognoxious · 2017-09-12 19:31 · Score: 2
  
  I was just thinking about house-martens and barn owls. Where did they live before humans?
  
  --
  Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
3. Re:But bats are endangered and we can do something by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-12 20:57 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  With their relatives.
4. Re:But bats are endangered and we can do something by bussdriver · 2017-09-17 09:05 · Score: 1
  
  I live in mosquito mecca. Birds do nothing for me. Imported Chinese dragonflies have made the biggest human impact against them. However, bats help greatly - we've noticed an unbelievable improvement since putting in bat houses in our yards. (The state can't put them every other house but the dragonflies helped the whole area greatly.)
  
  --
  Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
Is this humane? by Plus1Entropy · 2017-09-12 16:14 · Score: 2

Watching the video I feel bad for the bat...

--
Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
1. Re:Is this humane? by hcs_$reboot · 2017-09-12 17:55 · Score: 1
  
  PETA will sue, for sure.
  
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  Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
2. Re:Is this humane? by n329619 · 2017-09-13 18:22 · Score: 1
  
  PETA
  People Eating Tasty Animals? /joke
3. Re:Is this humane? by hcs_$reboot · 2017-09-13 18:58 · Score: 1
  
  Of course the PETA people are all vegetarian, they don't kill animals, ants or mosquitoes. Whenever they walk somewhere they always ensure no insect, spider or other small creatures would be harmed in the process. Their house is opened in winter to give shelter to all those poor creatures who would freeze to death otherwise. Obviously they don't use antibiotics to prevent the killing of innocent bacteria.
  
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  Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
Re:Green by RightwingNutjob · 2017-09-12 17:12 · Score: 1

Let's start with the solar panel companies.
Re: OMG by s1d3track3D · 2017-09-12 17:35 · Score: 2

I don’t know,

Q: Why did the bat crash into windows?
A: It saw the Blue Screen of Death

Q: Why did the bat crash into windows?
A: Because the door was closed

Q: Why did the bat crash into windows?
A: Because the Mac was more secure

Q: Why did the bat crash into windows?
A: Because it ran l33t c0d3z scr1ptz

Q: Why did the bat crash into windows?
A: Because the batman is a master technologist

Your welcome!

(thank you, i’ll be here all night)
Re: OMG by war4peace · 2017-09-12 17:46 · Score: 2

My welcome is stronger than your welcome!

--
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
Re:Makes sense by war4peace · 2017-09-12 17:48 · Score: 1

Their findings were briefly explained in this documentary called "Storks": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt46...

--
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
Re: OMG by s1d3track3D · 2017-09-12 17:58 · Score: 2

Heh, I see what you did there.
Just remember your windows need to be stronger than the windblows...
Re:Stupid Windows by K.+S.+Kyosuke · 2017-09-12 18:53 · Score: 1

But then you can't use The Bat...

--
Ezekiel 23:20
Re:Stupid Windows by Hognoxious · 2017-09-12 19:25 · Score: 1

Thanks for bringing that up. Now I'll have to listen to Gipsies, Tramps and Thieves.

--
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Right tools for the job by stealth_finger · 2017-09-12 19:35 · Score: 1

Well that's what happens when you use ears as eyes.

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https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
Re: OMG by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-12 19:50 · Score: 1

If I bat a window, it surely will crash?
that's evil by Cederic · 2017-09-12 20:07 · Score: 2

The researchers also put up smooth, vertical plates near wild bat colonies
The bastards!
1. Re:that's evil by jfdavis668 · 2017-09-13 01:44 · Score: 1
  
  They also killed Kenny.
How is this new information ? by OneSmartFellow · 2017-09-12 20:33 · Score: 1

It has been pretty well understood for several centuries how sound waves behave. My guess is that Da Vinci could have told us the same thing, 500 years ago.
1. Re:How is this new information ? by stooo · 2017-09-13 11:41 · Score: 1
  
  yeah, except he didn't.
  
  --
  aaaaaaa
It's easy by The123king · 2017-09-12 21:46 · Score: 2

@echo off
:crash
start
goto crash

Save that as a .bat, then run as administrator. Anyone can make a bat crash Windows!

--
If you gave me a choice between a printer and a giraffe with explosive diarrhoea, i'll get my ladder and my raincoat
You mean by SCVonSteroids · 2017-09-13 00:18 · Score: 1

Outlook and Office crash on Windows.

--
I tend to rant.
Re:Stupid Windows by zifn4b · 2017-09-13 01:13 · Score: 1

This is why I use Linux
You do realize what OS the Bat Computer runs right?

--
We'll make great pets
Re: OMG by zapez.perplex · 2017-09-13 01:54 · Score: 2

they will no longer crash in Windows 10 SP1
Keep your windows dirty and save the bats! by damn_registrars · 2017-09-13 02:18 · Score: 1

Bats never crash into my dirty windows, apparently I'm doing the bats a favor by giving them rough surfaces that their sonar correctly bounces back off of. Since I happen to love the bats in my area (almost exclusively the insectivorous little brown bat and big brown bat) I see this as win-win.

--
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
1. Re:Keep your windows dirty and save the bats! by stooo · 2017-09-13 11:42 · Score: 1
  
  what kind of mud did you splash on your windows ?
  
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  aaaaaaa
WE CAN'T STOP HERE! by Thud457 · 2017-09-13 03:24 · Score: 1

Bats DO NOT crash into windows.
The bats are a projection from Bruce Wayne's diseased mind.

--
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Simple solution by p51d007 · 2017-09-13 03:30 · Score: 1

Ban any building more than 10 feet tall, and rid the world of glass & steel. Works well in Africa. Grass huts for everyone!!
1. Re:Simple solution by stooo · 2017-09-13 11:43 · Score: 1
  
  you don't know anything about Africa.
  
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  aaaaaaa
As a followup question by Vermonter · 2017-09-13 03:40 · Score: 1

Why does this bat file crash Windows?
1. Re:As a followup question by eaglesrule · 2017-09-13 05:43 · Score: 1
  
  Because 'start' is a command being called from within an infinite loop, that opens up a command line window and doesn't care if an instance of cmd.exe is already running.
Re: OMG by Joce640k · 2017-09-13 05:03 · Score: 1

Came here looking for Windows jokes.
Am leaving satisfied.

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No sig today...
New invention: crash resistant windows? by Provocateur · 2017-09-13 07:57 · Score: 1

Bat-repellent window?
But the team had a brainstorm and decided to call them windows
Today's slashdot might even consider this item "newsworthy"

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WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
Re:Meh by stooo · 2017-09-13 11:39 · Score: 1

True.
Evolution may well one day kill humans creating and cleaning these strange glass panes.

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aaaaaaa
Re:This is news? by stooo · 2017-09-13 11:42 · Score: 1

Yep. And the remedy is to use Linux.
No bats crashing on Windows any more.

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aaaaaaa