Miniature Tags Track Dragonflies 32
celardore writes "BBC News reports about the epic journeys taken by dragonflies searching for warmer climates have been revealed by scientists in the US.
The team, led by researchers from Princeton University, found that the insects are capable of flying up to 85 miles (137 km) in a day.
Each transmitter weighed about a third of a gram and had enough battery life to track an individual for 10 days; but tagging such small creatures is far from easy.
"The challenge is first catching the dragonfly," said Professor Wilcove.
Once caught, each transmitter was attached with a couple of drops of superglue and some eye-lash adhesive."
Good use for tags (Score:2, Insightful)
Such a technology could lead to a 24x7 tracking of persons: where they are and when, at least.
Re:Good use for tags (Score:1)
Re:Good use for tags (Score:1, Flamebait)
May be. The bad news would come when this tag will become mandatory for everyone for every day usage.
In any case, unless you implant it very deep in the body, it can be removed or transplanted on someone else.
People is to be identified by something they are not by something they have. Also by something they know is not good, because in this case the knowledge, that is the information, can be copied, erased or modified. Our brains are not read-only.
Re:Good use for tags (Score:1)
Or like attach to the spinal chord?
Re:Good use for tags (Score:1, Insightful)
And the sad part is, i'll get modded as a troll...
Re:Good use for tags (Score:2)
Re:Good use for tags (Score:1)
Author David Brin argues that people will take advantage of the IPv6 system to litter the landscape with cheap sensors and cameras.
Re:Good use for tags (Score:3, Interesting)
I think that's inevitable. We already have millions of cameras controlling traffic. They have started with OCR for automatic reading of car license plates which reportedly works in real time. Next step will be face recognition software, I guess in the next ten years that will be very easy.
No more privacy in public places, which, despite being an oxymoron, we have come to take for granted in big cities. Well, I guess it's not so bad, anyone who grew up in
Re:Good use for tags (Score:1)
Re:Good use for tags (Score:2)
A similar experiment (Score:4, Funny)
Scientist were even more baffled (Score:3, Funny)
Science. Love it.
Still, 1/3 of a gram transmitter. That 100 gram cellphone ain't all that hot now is it.
What's that? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:What's that? (Score:1)
Was I in Dragonfly Heaven? (Score:5, Interesting)
As I began setting up camp late in the afternoon I began to notice first a couple then dozens of giant neon blue and black dragonflies. After I had set up camp I walked a bit closer to the rock bluff above the lake and sat down. There were untold numbers of dragonflies all around me. Most were quite large but there were also smaller ones. After I settled on an outcropping of Canadian Sheild the dragonflies began to settle on rock and plants everywhere. I sat still and watched what was a surreal dance of hovering and slow moving dragonflies move lazily in the late afternoon summer heat.
Needless to say there wasn't a mosquito to be seen or heard. I'd never before seen so many dargonflies and haven't since. Perhaps it was a hatching site, but the numbers were unestimatable. It was more a work of imagination than reality.
Anyone had a similar experience?
Re:Was I in Dragonfly Heaven? (Score:4, Informative)
Life that relies on small ponds (rather then larger bodies of water) tends to be quite sensitive to insecticides & pesticides. I suspect the pond you're talking about was nowhere near any orchards (or other commercial farming).
I'ts important to remember that nearly all ponds used to be like the one you're talking about - and could be again, if we just started being a little more sensitive.
Re:Was I in Dragonfly Heaven? (Score:1)
> lake in Ontario.
> I began to notice first a couple then dozens of giant neon blue and black
> dragonflies
> the dragonflies began to settle on rock and plants everywhere. I sat still and
> watched what was a surreal dance of hovering and slow moving dragonflies move
> lazily in the late afternoon summer heat.
> Anyone had a similar experience?
Yeah, this guy:
http://www.normal-design.com/bicycle-ri [normal-design.com]
Re:Was I in Dragonfly Heaven? (Score:1)
Re:Was I in Dragonfly Heaven? (Score:2)
No pics. I had a little 35 to 110 Pentax waterproof with me, but by the time I hit Ontario I had lost interest in taking pictures. It had become about endurance and motion.
cheers
Additonal (entirely speculative) (Score:2)
Now, to confirm, all we need to
One doubt left (Score:3, Funny)
For a few doubts more... (Score:1)
Re:One doubt left (Score:2)
Re:One doubt left (Score:1)
Re:One doubt left (Score:1)
superglue and eye-lash adhesive (Score:2)
Does the combination of superglue and eye-lash adhesive have magical properties that makes it easy to work with?
Or did the researchers have another study going on to compare the two?
Or, did they only use the superglue on the male dragonflys and the eye-lash adhesive on the female dragonflys?
Well, (Score:2)
Convergent Evolution (Score:1)