The above image is not a render from a new, too life-like Pixar movie, but a picture of an actual praying mantis wearing sunglasses.
Using beeswax as adhesive, researchers from Newcastle University, UK attached a tiny pair of dual-colored 3D glasses to the insect’s eyes. Afterwards, the scientists showed the praying mantis a video of a potential prey and what do you know? The mantis attacked that “prey”.
This led researchers to believe that praying mantises have the same 3D image processing as humans. Moreover, they were sometimes better than humans because their detection mechanism was different.
“Even if the scientists made the two eyes’ images completely different, mantises can still match up the places where things are changing. They did so even when humans couldn’t,” explained Dr. Vivek Nityananda.
In the press release, Dr. Nityananda highlighted that this discovery is a huge breakthrough in 3D vision research.
“This is a completely new form of 3D vision as it is based on change over time instead of static images.”
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