Why this praying mantis is wearing tiny 3D glasses
Praying mantises willing to wear 3D glasses and sit through bizarre, abstract movies have revealed a new way of seeing the world in three dimensions. The findings could help improve machine vision for robots that need to judge distance, like drones. But most of all, thanks to this research, we now know what bug-eyed mantises look like in glasses: adorable.
These carnivorous — frequently, cannibalistic — insects are well known for their pious posture, and the female’s habit of devouring her mate after sex. Praying mantises also have an unusual perspective for a bug: they’re the only insect we know of that can see in 3D, like we can. But figuring out how their bug-brains judge distance has been a challenge, because you can’t exactly ask a…
