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Why flying insects gather at artificial light

nature.com

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Re: Why flying insects gather at artificial light

#161

Post by dhosek »

shmeeed wrote: post #150
Detrytus wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wrong, Batman had no superpowers. He was just good at martial arts, and had access to some nice equipment (because he was a billionaire).

So the costume was basically just a kink?

Yep. There was one early Batman series which revealed that his father had once dressed as a bat-man for a costume party. Batman wore the costume when apprehending a criminal who had done something awful to Batdad and the criminal, seeing the costume thought it was Batdad returned to life and panicked falling to his death.¹

⸻

1. Likely inaccurate description of the plot based on 45-year-old memories of reading the story in a library collection.

Re: Why flying insects gather at artificial light

#162

Post by hk__2 »

carlosjobim wrote: post #154
hk__2 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note that depending on your area this might be illegal. In France for example, bats are a protected species and it’s forbidden to kill or capture them.

Who in the world would know anything about it if you're out at night catching bats with a sock?

If you know that it’s a protected species you might want not to do that, even if there’s no one to see you.

Re: Why flying insects gather at artificial light

#163

Post by js2 »

crossroadsguy wrote: post #158
TeMPOraL wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also depending on your area, there's a chance the bat may scratch you without you realizing it, and a few months or years later, you suddenly go mad and die in agony. At least I'm more scared of rabies than any government fine. By the time you know something is wrong, you're already a corpse that's about to remember to stop moving.

Rabies can lay that dormant? And there’s no test?

Apparently, yes, and while there are tests, it's probably too late once symptoms have appeared:

> Rabies virus travels through the nerves to the spinal cord and brain. This process can last approximately 3 to 12 weeks. The animal has no signs of illness during this time.[^1]

> Several tests are necessary to diagnose rabies ante-mortem (before death) in humans; no single test is sufficient. Tests are performed on samples of saliva, serum, spinal fluid, and skin biopsies of hair follicles at the nape of the neck.[^2]

> Once clinical signs of rabies appear, the disease is nearly always fatal, and treatment is typically supportive. Less than 20 cases of human survival from clinical rabies have been documented.[^3]

[^1]: https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/transmission/body.html

[^2]: https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/diagnosis/animals-humans.html

[^3]: https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/symptoms/index.html

Re: Why flying insects gather at artificial light

#164

Post by swayvil »

rev-engineer22 wrote: post #152
Detrytus wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wrong, Batman had no superpowers. He was just good at martial arts, and had access to some nice equipment (because he was a billionaire).

He had superhuman thirst for justice

Justice playing a metaphor for little flying insects in this case, upon which Batman places his hyperfocus. It makes sense.

Re: Why flying insects gather at artificial light

#165

Post by xavivives »

phreeza wrote: post #145
xavivives wrote: post #116

A theory I have is that some may use it as Schelling point [1] to coordinate. For reproduction but maybe other things too. Similar how the environment conditions after a rain can be the catalyst for ants nuptial flight [2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focal_point_(game_theory) [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuptial_flight

What would the shelling point be before the advent of artificial light though? Can't be the moon. Or do you think it evolved on the human time scale?

Yeah, I was referring to full moon. Maybe in combination with other environmental variables. Why can't it be?

If that's case the behaviors relying on it have been quite fucked up for some time.

Re: Why flying insects gather at artificial light

#166

Post by pyinstallwoes »

fennecfoxy wrote: post #157

Read a bit of it and it does make sense I guess! Looking it up it seems as though insects generally don't have the fancy ear/inner ear that we have as humans seems to sense gravity and velocity through inner ear and pressure against our skin (across our whole body). Considering that insects don't have our fancy inner ear and can sense touch/pressure on a surface but cannot use this in flight, I guess it does make sen…

So Tesla's will do this? /s

Re: Why flying insects gather at artificial light

#167

Post by tuan »

This reminds me of one of my childhood's favorite activities in Vietnam: catching water bugs late afternoons. I think they are https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethocerus_indicus, but I might be wrong. That was in the 80s where Vietnam was very underdeveloped. There weren't many street lights and they were usually dim. Our house was right next to a newly built road (which eventually became a highway). That was one of the only few roads with bright street lights. The brightness of the newly installed street lights didn't attract just us kids, but also these water bugs from the rice field on the other side of the road. Once day we were told that these insects are actually edible! I and a few kids on the same block started capturing those insects, put them in jars, and brought them back home :)

Re: Why flying insects gather at artificial light

#168

Post by phreeza »

xavivives wrote: post #165
phreeza wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would the shelling point be before the advent of artificial light though? Can't be the moon. Or do you think it evolved on the human time scale?

Yeah, I was referring to full moon. Maybe in combination with other environmental variables. Why can't it be? If that's case the behaviors relying on it have been quite fucked up for some time.

Ah maybe you mean in the temporal sense? Yea that could be a useful shelling point. I was thinking spatially, obviously insects can't fly to the moon to reproduce .

Re: Why flying insects gather at artificial light

#169

Post by kermatt »

Detrytus wrote: post #149
swayvil wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

or superpowers

Wrong, Batman had no superpowers. He was just good at martial arts, and had access to some nice equipment (because he was a billionaire).

Batman’s super power was his bank account(s)

Re: Why flying insects gather at artificial light

#170

Post by carlosjobim »

hk__2 wrote: post #162
carlosjobim wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who in the world would know anything about it if you're out at night catching bats with a sock?

If you know that it’s a protected species you might want not to do that, even if there’s no one to see you.

I'll assume that somebody out catching bats at night have their reasons.
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