Sep 27, 2021 05:20 PM
https://aeon.co/essays/how-firefly-flash...ex-systems
EXCERPT: . . . Given that the fireflies are physical agents moving in three-dimensional space, it’s perhaps not surprising that their movements encode information. A striking example of this is in Photinus pyralis, a common backyard species often called ‘the Big Dipper’, for the males’ characteristic one-second flashes as they fly in the shape of the letter J. Their combination of light and movement has inspired scientists and artists alike. In 1949, Pablo Picasso produced one of the first documented ‘light-drawings’ – photographs, a critic wrote, that ‘were made with a small electric light in a darkened room; in effect, the images vanished as soon as they were created and yet they still live, six decades later.’ Since then, long-exposure photography of firefly displays has developed into a striking form of artistic expression.
Fireflies also inspire technology. One of the most exciting frontiers in robotics is in bioinspired swarms – legions of tiny robots that will move together to explore a field of landmines, or the deep sea floor, or the surface of another planet. To operate as a swarm, the robots must be able to communicate with and react to each other. The swarm should also be robust, meaning that it can continue to function even if some members break down. By understanding firefly communication – honed by evolution, selection and refinement – we can exploit that understanding to come up with mathematical formulations for the behavioural rules of individual fireflies, and how they map to the resulting behaviour of the swarm. My colleagues and I are currently developing such mathematical models that account for our new data. We expect these insights from evolved, energy-efficient swarms of fireflies to be essential for designing distributed algorithms for robot swarms that require some form of synchronisation to carry out their tasks.
As we trek deeper into the woods, beneath the stars and amid the fleeting fireflies, I marvel at just how much we have yet to learn from life on this complex planet. We have just begun to understand how fireflies communicate, and the theoretical insights we’ve gleaned from refining the Kuramoto model could illuminate other complex systems – some of which we might not even be aware of. But with rapid mass extinctions, not only are we losing the balance of life on the planet. We are also losing our ability ‘to truly understand the most remarkable technology that has ever existed’, according to the bioengineer Manu Prakash: ‘the physical design principles of life on Earth.’ (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPT: . . . Given that the fireflies are physical agents moving in three-dimensional space, it’s perhaps not surprising that their movements encode information. A striking example of this is in Photinus pyralis, a common backyard species often called ‘the Big Dipper’, for the males’ characteristic one-second flashes as they fly in the shape of the letter J. Their combination of light and movement has inspired scientists and artists alike. In 1949, Pablo Picasso produced one of the first documented ‘light-drawings’ – photographs, a critic wrote, that ‘were made with a small electric light in a darkened room; in effect, the images vanished as soon as they were created and yet they still live, six decades later.’ Since then, long-exposure photography of firefly displays has developed into a striking form of artistic expression.
Fireflies also inspire technology. One of the most exciting frontiers in robotics is in bioinspired swarms – legions of tiny robots that will move together to explore a field of landmines, or the deep sea floor, or the surface of another planet. To operate as a swarm, the robots must be able to communicate with and react to each other. The swarm should also be robust, meaning that it can continue to function even if some members break down. By understanding firefly communication – honed by evolution, selection and refinement – we can exploit that understanding to come up with mathematical formulations for the behavioural rules of individual fireflies, and how they map to the resulting behaviour of the swarm. My colleagues and I are currently developing such mathematical models that account for our new data. We expect these insights from evolved, energy-efficient swarms of fireflies to be essential for designing distributed algorithms for robot swarms that require some form of synchronisation to carry out their tasks.
As we trek deeper into the woods, beneath the stars and amid the fleeting fireflies, I marvel at just how much we have yet to learn from life on this complex planet. We have just begun to understand how fireflies communicate, and the theoretical insights we’ve gleaned from refining the Kuramoto model could illuminate other complex systems – some of which we might not even be aware of. But with rapid mass extinctions, not only are we losing the balance of life on the planet. We are also losing our ability ‘to truly understand the most remarkable technology that has ever existed’, according to the bioengineer Manu Prakash: ‘the physical design principles of life on Earth.’ (MORE - missing details)