Ants have always puzzled researchers in many things, and recently researchers have been interested in learning about ants’ memory, and how they know the way to their homes and colonies, no matter how far they travel in search of their livelihood. Researchers have discovered that insects have very wonderful skills, so ants that live in desert salt basins can travel more of miles, aware of his location at all times, and knows the way to his dwellings well.
According to a report by an international team of researchers from the University of Edinburgh, Macquarie University and Lund University, published by The Conversation, what surprised researchers is that there are no landmarks or features. In that terrain to help ants identify their homes.
Instead, like great explorers such as Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan, ants use the sun's position in the sky as a compass and its own motion to estimate distances.
To give a clear picture of what these wonderful insects do, consider that one kilometer equals about 100,000 times the length of an ant's body.
This is equivalent to the path of a human being walking from New York to Washington, D.C. and back (about 656 kilometers), knowing at all times the correct direction and distance to travel without using any guides or geographic features around.
Inside the insect's brain
Thanks to the recent developments in genetics, and the great advances in microscopes, scientists were able to make different brain cells emit distinct colors of light, and this achievement allowed researchers to distinguish individual neurons and disengage them from each other in the neural network.
This technology was used to learn how the insect's brain tracks its direction, and how the brain can calculate the distance it has traveled by constantly adding its current speed to its memory during the flight.
Scientists discovered how the direction and distance traveled by the insect are encoded by neurons in its brain as it travels away from its homes, but what puzzled them is how this important information is stored in its memory so that it can return again to its homes?
“Honestly, it was a puzzle. Fast-moving insects need to constantly refresh their memory of direction and distance in flight, yet they can remember it for several days. These two aspects of memory—rapid and long-term refresh—are incompatible, but it seems that Insects managed to combine them.
Fast-moving insects need to refresh their memory of direction and distance (Shutterstock)
Why did scientists freeze ants?
Typically, when these insects are released in an unfamiliar place, they will run straight towards the place where they would have found their homes.
This means that they will walk parallel to their natural path, and once they have traveled the expected distance, they will begin to search for entrances to dwellings.
But the researchers found that the insects that were frozen moved in the expected direction, but forgot how far they should travel, and this means that they started searching for the entrance to the dwelling very early.
It was initially baffling that distance memory deteriorated while orientation memory was preserved—this finding did not produce the clear distinction between short-term (forgotten) and long-term (reserved) memory that the researchers had expected.
But they believe that the best explanation for this phenomenon is not two separate memories, but a single shared memory that encodes both direction and distance — and partially degrades upon freezing.
The insects that were frozen moved in the expected direction, but forgot how far they should go (Getty Images)
Usually, when these insects are released in an unfamiliar location, they will run straight towards where their nests would have been.
This means that they will walk parallel to their natural path, and once they have come the expected distance, they will start looking for nest entrances.
But the researchers found that the insects that were frozen moved in the expected direction, but forgot how far they should go - meaning they started searching for the nest entrance too early.
It was initially baffling that distance memory deteriorated while orientation memory was preserved—this finding did not produce the clear distinction between short-term (forgotten) and long-term (reserved) memory that the researchers had expected.
But they believe that the best explanation for this phenomenon is not two separate memories, but a single shared memory that encodes both direction and distance — and partially degrades upon freezing.
Distance and direction are stated as Cartesian coordinates (Ioannis Besukas - The Conversion)
The secret of Cartesian coordinates
The results of the research confirmed that the insects remembered the distance and direction as Cartesian coordinates, and that instead of remembering the distance and direction (or angle), they remembered their location by remembering the x- and y-coordinates.
In mathematics, the Cartesian coordinate system is used to locate a point in a plane across two numbers, usually called the x-coordinate and the y-coordinate, and the length or gradient unit must also be defined, which we show on the two axes.
By using this system, geometric shapes can be expressed using algebraic equations, and coordinates are also used in space (using 3 coordinates), or even in more dimensions.
The system was named after the French mathematician and philosopher Rene Descartes, who worked on integrating algebra and Euclidean geometry, and this work was crucial in the field of analytical geometry and the study of functions and maps.
Learning how insect brains remember the way home helps us understand how we do it (Getty Images)
Apparently insects were using Cartesian coordinate systems to find their homes long before Descartes formalized the concept.
Then if the insects lose some of their memory, the two coordinate values will be reduced, and assuming they lose a similar percentage of memory in both axes, they end up with a shorter distance but still the same angle or direction.
Whether we are humans or insects, we should all go home, and learning how insect brains remember the way home will help us understand how we humans do, too.