When on eye is better than two

Article Abstract:

Pettigrew and colleagues have shown that in the sandlance and the chameleon, the refracting power of the cornea is adjusted by a fast-acting cornealis muscle. This means that the nodal point is placed well in front of the centre around which the eye rotates, providing information about the relative distances of different objects. Fritsches and Marshall have found that the gaze of the sandlance falls slowly back toward the central viewing direction, challenging the accepted notion that animals strive to retain a still image of the world on their retina all the time.

Physiological aspects, Observations, Ecological research, Vision research, Chameleons

---

Ants match as they march

Article Abstract:

It has been possible to identify evidence that wood ants navigate over long distances by acquiring a sequence of snapshots of the journey. The correct route is followed by matching each snapshot in succession. It is possible that the snapshots are acquired during the learning phase, when ants leaving for home after collecting food often turn back and make short runs towards the goal. Future research will need to establish the extent to which insects can be seen as photographers taking snapshots, or as abstract artists taking in the essence of what they see.

Research, Animal navigation

---

Homing in on ant navigation

Article Abstract:

Trained Saharan desert ants have been used to study how ants calculate the distance they have travelled. It is suggested that the ants project their movements onto a fictitious horizontal plane and determine their position relative to the nest on this plane.

Similar abstracts:

• Abstracts: The pulling power of galaxy clusters. The state of the Universe. Characterizing the nonlinear growth of large-scale structure in the Universe
• Abstracts: Visual feature selectivity in frontal eye fields induced by experience in mature macaques. Performance monitoring by the supplementary eye field
• Abstracts: Crosstalk between G proteins and protein kinase C mediated by the calcium channel alpha(sub 1) subunit. Regulation of Ca2+ channel expression at the cell surface by the small G-protein kir/Gem
• Abstracts: Revolution in the ocean. Polar ocean ecosystems in a changing world. A watery arms race
• Abstracts: New cog in the nitrogen cycle. The fate of carbon in grasslands under carbon dioxide enrichment. The roots of the matter

This website is not affiliated with document authors or copyright owners. This page is provided for informational purposes only. Unintentional errors are possible.