Insects View the World in Bullet Time

[IanDavis]

Insects View the World in Bullet Time

Research suggests smaller animals have a different perception of time.

When it comes to evading rolled up newspapers and swatting hands, flys have all the advantages. Their multifaceted eyes give them almost 360-degrees of awareness, while their shorter bodies mean their nervous system can react faster. Now, researchers in Ireland and the UK have discovered that smaller creatures might actually [a href=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347213003060]perceive time differently[/a], according to their metabolic rate and body size. Effectively, it means that small flys and mosquitoes live in perpetual bullet time compared to us lumbering humans.

The researchers used flashing lights to measure how various animals perceived time. Animals were trained to behave differently according to the speed of the flashes, and experimented with various intensities and frequencies until they couldn't distinguish the difference. What they found was that to the best of our knowledge, creatures with a faster metabolic rate and a smaller body mass perceive time much faster than larger ones do.

The paper's authors suggest that this is an evolutionary response to an animal's environment. They even argue that both prey and predator animals have different methods of perceiving time, with some able to change it as needed. The findings certainly makes a lot of sense, but it's a bit jarring to realize just how much our perception of time can color our world.

Source: [a href=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347213003060]Science Direct[/a]

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[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

That's interesting. What about their max pain threshold and do they react to painkillers? I'd like to see a study on that.

 

[shrekfan246]

Somehow this doesn't really surprise me.

How else would they always manage to slip away just in time to avoid being smacked when they've been sitting perfectly still for the last ten minutes? Slippery little bastards.

 

[RJ Dalton]

This isn't news. I've known about this for at least 10 years because of documentaries I've seen. And I assume it was known before I learned of it.

 

[josemlopes]

That's interesting. What about their max pain threshold and do they react to painkillers? I'd like to see a study on that.

I guess the reason why their lifespan is so small is because they are just so damn cynical that they dont value their own life and just let themselfs die.

 

[Ukomba]

Isn't this the premise of Epic?

 

[Angelous Wang]

Research suggests smaller animals have a different perception of time.

It's already confirmed to be true of birds. We and all our stuff all move in slow-mo to them.

Bird 's eyes/brains process information far faster than us and their eyes capture far more frames per second than ours.

If a Bird watched a movie in cinema to them it would actually be a slideshow, that's how much faster their eyes work than ours.

It's also why they don't get out of the way until the very last second when you drive at them (or otherwise try to touch them), because from their perspective your moving so much slower and they've got loads of time to get out of the way.

 

[surg3n]

Yes, and humans percieve time differently as they get older - it all boils down to heart rate.

This is not new, this fascinating discovery has been common knowledge pretty much, for decades. Good to know that scientific funding goes towards bug disco's rather than anything boring like curing diseases.

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

Basically every insect is the embodiment of Albert Wesker minus the blond hair and shades.

 

[Strazdas]

Of course, how else would they escape us. i got a fly here at work, every day, at precisely 12 AM (you can set a clock by it) it comes to me, flies circles around my head for a bit, i fail to catch it, and then it moves somewhere i cant spot it. every day at work. for last 3 weeks. damn thats one dedicated fly to make me insane.

 

[McMullen]

Good to know that scientific funding goes towards bug disco's rather than anything boring like curing diseases.

Why do you think that it has to be one or the other? Some of the greatest breakthroughs in science were found by accident during seemingly unrelated experiments. Truth is, knowing how time perception works could have important consequences for the study of consciousness and its diseases.

Don't worry, the money's not being wasted. Ever written a grant proposal? Those can take anywhere from a couple days to a couple months to write, depending on the proposal and the situation, and you have to show in excruciating detail what you need and why you need it. You also usually need letters of recommendation. They don't just hand this money out to anyone. Relax; the money is not being wasted, it's often not even yours, and the amounts are usually not that great, especially for something like this.