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Butterflies use optical illusions to dodge predators

78 points · 19 comments · gmays

  1. yathern · · focus · HN ↗
    > The team combined multiple lines of evidence. They used a high-speed camera to film real butterflies taking off at over 1,000 frames per second to capture how their patterns behave in flight, as seen through the eyes of a bird.

    > To test how patterns affected real attacks, 100 volunteers acted as “predators”, trying to catch virtual butterflies on a touchscreen.

    This sounds fascinating, and I'd love to see footage demonstrating the barber-pole effect. If that's not available, I'd alternatively love to see footage of volunteers trying to tap butterflies on an iPad.

    1. Utilera · · focus · HN ↗
      The description is interesting enough that it almost feels incomplete without the video
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