By Ismael Diaz —
The most sophisticated computers are tasked with solving the Traveling Salesman Problem, routing the quickest path to hit, say, 15 spots in one day of the 87B alternatives. But the humble bee, with the brain the size of a sesame seed, rivals the expensive algorithm crunchers, as Professor Lars Chittka has shown.
“Evolution operates without any intelligence behind it whatsoever, and yet it’s supposed to have produced billions of living things that demonstrate engineering prowess and functionality beyond anything humans have ever come close to,” mused John Calvin Smith, a Canadian apologist.
“Comparing bee brains to supercomputers isn’t a stretch because the software package inside their minds contains many incredible capabilities, including their cutting edge — by human standards — flight computing capability,” Smith adds. “Indeed bees’ agility while flying and accuracy and sense sensitivity when landing, whether on a flat angled or inverted surface, is the envy of human aviation engineers.”
Internally, bees have the equivalent of compasses, gyroscopes, air speed gauges and UV sensors to track the horizon and measure tilt, Smith says.
When aviation engineers needed to improve landing on sophisticated aircraft, they looked to the bee. As it comes close to land, it slows it speed through a process called optic flow.
“Landing safely is one of the most difficult aspects of flight,” Smith says. “The speed and rate of approach has to be reduced to near zero upon touchdown. Whether on approach to hang upside down on a flower petal or plunk down on your porch rail, bees achieve this and many more landings with extreme ease hundreds of times per day.”
After working with radar, lasers and GPS to perfect landings for unmanned aviation vehicles, frustrated scientists eventually found solution in the bee: optic flow monitoring. It’s now standard for the drone industry.
According to science journalist Douglas Fox, scientists are designing tiny, self-guided drones based on what they’re learning from insects. Did this just evolve?
Related content: 8 decades of research and still can’t find anything about how complex molecules formed, impossible that the eye has evolved, can evolution explain the brain? Sources: Answers in Genesis Canada.
