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BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — A light has dawned... on researchers.
And now, entomologists have a better idea of what causes bugs, such as moths, to gather under artificial lights, especially at night.
We've all seen clouds of flying insects massing under streetlights during summer months.
The assumption has been the bugs are helplessly attracted to light sources, such as porch lamps and streetlights, sometimes fatally.
But researchers at the University of North Carolina have been doing experiments on moths and dragonflies using tiny sensors attached to the backs of the bugs.
They said the results of the experiments show that artificial lights at night actually scramble flying insects' innate navigational systems, causing them to flutter in confusion around porch lamps, streetlights, and other artificial beacons.
"For millions of years, insects oriented themselves by sensing that the sky is light, and the ground is dark, until people invented artificial lights," said Harvard entomologist Avalon Owens who was not involved in the research.
WBZ's James Rojas (@JamesRojasMMJ) reports.
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