THE NAVIGATIONAL SYSTEM OF THE BUTTERFLY

THE NAVIGATIONAL SYSTEM OF THE BUTTERFLY

Using a brain that is about the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen, the monarch butterfly migrates as far as 1,800 miles from Canada to a small patch of forest in Mexico. How does the insect find its way?
Consider: Monarch butterflies have a solar compass that is fixed to the position of the sun. but there is more. These insects also use a remarkably accurate circadian clock-a biological function based on the 24-hour day-to make corrections for the sun’s movement. Dr. Steven Reppert, a neurobiologist, says that monarch butterflies “have an entirely different way of building a circadian clock than the other insects and animals studied so far.”
Learning more about the secrets of the monarchs’ inner timepiece might give scientists further insight into the circadian clocks of humans and animals. It could also lead to new therapies for neurological afflictions. “I want to understand how the brain incorporates information about time and space,” says Reppert, “and the monarch is a spectacular example.”
What do you think? Is the complex navigational system of the monarch butterfly the product of chance? Or is it evidence of an intelligent Designer?

reaksi burung terhadap kebisingan

Reaksi Burung terhadap Kebisingan
Sejumlah burung berupaya keras agar kicauan mereka terdengar di tengah-tengah keramaian kota. Jika kebisingan kota bisa jadi menyusahkan manusia, hal itu merupakan soal “hidup dan mati” bagi burung, kata majalah New Scientist, karena si jantan bernyanyi untuk “menarik perhatian pasangannya dan menandai wilayahnya”. Karena kebisingan kota lebih keras pada frekuensi rendah, burung-burung tertentu membuat kicauan mereka terdengar dengan bernyanyi pada malam hari atau meningkatkan volume atau meninggikan nada. Penyesuaian ini tidak hanya dilakukan oleh burung-burung yang itnggal di kota, kata majalah itu. Burung-burung yang tinggal dekat “air terjun dan aliran deras sungai juga bernyanyi dengan frekuensi tinggi”.