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Fukushima insects tested for cognition
- cs702 1y agoPerfect fodder for a horror movie script.
- crackleware 1y agowe should send contaminated insects to Mars
- sunrunner 1y ago> Each bee is equipped with a 2-mm-wide QR Code I'm not sure why but this sentence feels vaguely menacing.
- tonetegeatinst 1y agoGives s whole new meaning to mobile storage.
- sunrunner 1y agoSee also: Benn Jordan's 'I Saved a PNG Image To A Bird' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCQCP-5g5bo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCQCP-5g5bo
- alex_suzuki 1y agoNitpick: the article mentions that the bees are tracked with QR Codes, but I find that hard to believe, given the space constraints. In one photo it looks like it is an ArUco marker.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- diggan 1y ago2mm QR codes according to the article: > The protocol used at Fukushima is automated. Each bee is equipped with a 2-mm-wide QR Code which is read by a camera, activating the opening of the maze. But yeah, doesn't look like a QR code at all, are there possibly different variations of QR codes? Haven't heard about that myself.
- blueflow 1y agoI can imagine the journalist referring to all Matrix Codes as "QR".
- wanderingstan 1y agoThis is it. All matrix codes are now commonly referred to as “QR Codes”. I’ve noticed this especially at airports where both passengers and gate agents refer to the “QR codes” on boarding passes. (Which are IIRC Aztec codes)
- alex_suzuki 1y agoBoarding passes are typically Aztec, but don‘t have to be. IATA allows other types as well: https://www.iata.org/contentassets/1dccc9ed041b4f3bbdcf8ee8682e75c4/2021_03_02-bcbp-implementation-guide-version-7-.pdf https://www.iata.org/contentassets/1dccc9ed041b4f3bbdcf8ee86...
- thaumasiotes 1y agoIn China the normal word is 二维码 "two-dimensional code".
- noduerme 1y agois a barcode a one-dimensional code?
- collingreen 1y agoYes - even though it obviously has visual height the data only runs in one dimension. For the 2D codes like QR the data is in both directions, which is why orientation often comes up in their design.
- numpad0 1y agoTIL: Wikipedia does not have a standalone article for ArUco markers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARTag https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARTag
- tokai 1y agoNitpick: QR code is widely used as a generic term for matrix barcodes.
- traceroute66 1y agoThere's something called a bCode... https://theapiarist.org/barcoding-bees/ https://theapiarist.org/barcoding-bees/
- dudeinjapan 1y agoIf the bees were exposed to radiation, shouldn't we be testing them for super-powers?
- blackoil 1y agoOR try getting teenagers stung by them.
- MaxZero101 1y agoThe power to make honey and die after using your stinger?
- IAmBroom 1y agoThe Fantastic 4,000 versus Wasp Man!
- jebronie 1y agothis isn't reddit
- miohtama 1y agoTeenage Mutant Ninja Bees
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- meonkeys 1y agoShould be: ...Tested for Impaired Cognition
- fhars 1y agoYeah. How could 1950's science fiction be so wrong?
- cbdevidal 1y agoMy stupid butt imagined new mutant superpowered insects like the Brain from Pinky and the Brain
- ghurtado 1y agoWell, to be fair, that's what that stupid title is designed to make you think
- grues-dinner 1y agoShow pitch: Pinky and the Brain but the Brain is a brain bug from Starship Troopers.
- no_wizard 1y agoI was thinking Rachni[0][1] [0]: https://masseffect.fandom.com/wiki/Rachni https://masseffect.fandom.com/wiki/Rachni [1]: origins have to start somewhere
- LargoLasskhyfv 1y agoI thought of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_IV_(1974_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_IV_(1974_film)
- layer8 1y agoThey only seem to be testing individual bees though, not the hive mind.
- 1y ago
- blackoil 1y agoHave we tried increasing cognition by selective breeding. Get mice best at maze to breed 100 descendants and repeat it few times, with varying food supply and survival difficulties.
- Traubenfuchs 1y agohttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tryon%27s_Rat_Experiment https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tryon%27s_Rat_Experiment
- giraffe_lady 1y agoThis gets you mice that are better at navigating mazes. The connection between that and general cognition or learning capacity is not as robust as you would hope. Just as likely they simply have better peripheral vision or something.
- Thorrez 1y ago>Although the results of the study have yet to be published, scientists are already reporting a decline in insect cognition in the contaminated area of Fukushima Prefecture.
- blueflow 1y agoTroll-tier conclusion: Human presence improves cognition in insects
- IAmBroom 1y agoScientific research causes cancer in mice. That's actually a fact; there are specific bloodlines prone to cancers.
- gus_massa 1y agoI can see a direct relation in this test, but it may be my lack of imagination or knowdledge... Anyway, animals in islands without predators lose escape hability, in particular the dodo.
- GuB-42 1y agoThe conclusion is (emphasis mine): Although the results of the study have yet to be published, scientists are already reporting a decline in insect cognition in the contaminated area of Fukushima Prefecture. "We can see correlations," Armant says. "However, a causal link with radioactive contamination has not yet been established. But since the area is no longer inhabited, it is unlikely that the effect is due to factors such as pesticides." So, when people leave the area, insect cognition decline, therefore human presence improves cognition in insects.
- jonathaneunice 1y agoFuture research should also test for induced meta-insect superpowers. "Fukushima was a massive disaster. It was also Arthur Buzzby's origin story."
- Gienoz100 1y ago[dead]
- bornfreddy 1y agoWhoever has put the tag on that hornet in the last photo is a hero in my eyes. Things people do for science...
- giardini 1y agoThe Green Hornet!
- LargoLasskhyfv 1y agoI once fed one of those, with a raisin, hastily pulled out of my müsli, and put it on the tip of a long needle. Did a nap at around 2 to 3PM on a sunny day, had the balcony door tilted inwards. Got woken up by a strange, and rather loud buzzing sound, maybe like when you're holding a strip of paper, or soft plastic into a ventilator/fan. Searched and saw nothing at first, until I saw movement behind the lowered window blinds. Pulled them back and made that hornet bouncing against the glass, like panicked. Put them back very slowly, raised the blinds of the balcony door and opened it wide. Tried to shoo the hornet towards the now wide opened balcony door by slowly pulling the blinds back wide. Didn't work. It just bounced against the glass even more panicked. Put the blinds back very slowly again. I somehow got the idea that I maybe should give her something to eat. But what? Honey on a spoon? Sugar dissolved in water? For whichever reason I decided to pick a raisin out of my müsli-box, and put that on the top of a long needle. Don't ask me why. I never did that before, I just came to me. I can't explain how. Anyway, I held the needle, maybe 10cm long, glinting silvery, very slowly and steady between the gap of blinds and windowframe, and the hornet crawled towards the tip on the inside of the blinds, tilted by 90°, like crawling on a wall. And it began to gnaw on the raisin! I could see it shrink, took maybe 5 minutes until it was gone. Pulled the now empty needle back very slowly, and waited. Hornet did something like 'aerobics', a strange dance, while still sitting rotated by 90° on the inside of the blinds, raising one of her legs at a time, grooming herself, and its wings. But rhythmically, several times. For maybe two minutes. Then, without bumping into anything, it flew out of the gap, and made two slow circles of maybe half a meter in diameter, maybe half a meter away from the tip of my nose, or my eyes, counterclockwise. Absolutely coordinated. No variation in speed, and the circles like being drawn with a pair of compasses. For maybe half a minute, max. I stood very, very still. And then it buzzed out very fast through the wide opened balcony door, in a straight line, out of sight. I stood there, wondering, did that really happen? Am I still dreaming? WTF?! That was one of the stranger things happening in my life. Unforgettable :-)