Mapping conservation projects across Africa: Alta De Vos
Millions of dollars and thousands of volunteers are employed in conservation efforts across Africa, but until recently there was no way to keep track of exactly what was going on. Seizing an opportunity to fix this, Alta De Vos and her team developed the online MAPA project, a platform that allows conservationists to share and keep track of their projects across the continent. (Filmed at TEDxStellenbosch)
Each week, we choose four of our favorite talks, highlighting just a few of the enlightening speakers from the TEDx community, and its diverse constellation of ideas worth spreading. Browse all TEDxTalks here »
Dung beetles: Poo collectors. Land cleaners. Stargazers?
Photo: Emily Baird via LiveScience
What happens when you take a dung beetle into a planetarium? You figure out it knows a lot more about our galaxy than you’d think.
TEDx speaker Marcus Byrne is one of the several scientists behind a new study — published this week in Current Biology — that has revealed the dung beetle to be the very first animal proven to use the entire galaxy for direction, rather than individual stars or constellations. His TEDxWitsUniversity talk, “The dance of the dung beetle,” featured on TED.com in December, explained some of his earlier research on the creatures and their directional skills.
In his talk, Byrne explains how dung beetles use the sun, the moon, and polarized light as guidance while rolling scavenged dung back to their nests. But of course, research didn’t stop there. “We were sitting out in Vryburg (conducting experiments) and the Milky Way was this massive light source. We thought they have to be able to use this – they just have to!” he said in a press release about the study.
Soon, the team realized that at night, beetles have no problem directing dung balls when the sky is clear, even if no moon is visible, but come across major issues whenever it is overcast. “This led us to suspect that the beetles exploit the starry sky for orientation — a feat that had, to our knowledge, never before been demonstrated in an insect,” said fellow researcher Marie Dacke.
After many observations outdoors, Byrne and the other researchers brought their research inside the Wits Planetarium in South Africa. An article in Cosmic Lab from NBC News explains the tests:
The planetarium was programmed to show the night sky with the Milky Way, or the Milky Way without the brightest stars in the sky, or the brightest stars without the Milky Way, or just the diffuse glow of the Milky Way with no stars at all.
The bottom line was clear: Those bugs could keep track of how the fuzzy streak of the Milky Way was oriented in the sky, to make sure they rolled their balls of dung in a suitably straight line.
However, “not all light sources are equally useful landmarks for a dung beetle,” Wits University reports. “The scientists suspect the beetles have a hierarchy of preference when it comes to available light sources. So if the moon and the Milky Way are visible at the same time, the beetles probably use one rather than the other.”
Still, a dung beetle that knows the Milky Way is a dung beetle we’d like to know. To learn more about these captivating galaxy-gazers, watch Byrne’s TEDx Talk, or check out TED’s playlist of “7 talks that contain fascinating facts about beetles.”
Mobile games that change culture: Anne Githuku-Shongwe
“We are limited by our own beliefs.”
Prosperity isn’t something that can simply be bought, says Anne Githuku-Shongwe. In this talk, she presents her mobile games, designed to instill South African youth with progressive values and a drive to succeed. (Filmed at TEDxSoweto)
Each week, we choose four of our favorite talks, highlighting just a few of the enlightening speakers from the TEDx community, and its diverse constellation of ideas worth spreading. Browse all TEDxTalks here »
Challenging the myths of good health: Tim Noakes
“Fifty percent of what we teach is wrong. The problem is that we don’t know which fifty percent it is.”
From diet advice to proper hydration, people in the western world are inundated with recommendations and guidelines on how to be healthy. Unfortunately, many of these suggestions aren’t supported by even basic scientific research. Tim Noakes has made a career out of examining and debunking popular health myths, and his conclusions may surprise you. (Filmed at TEDxCapeTown)
Each week, we choose four of our favorite talks, highlighting just a few of the enlightening speakers from the TEDx community, and its diverse constellation of ideas worth spreading. Browse all TEDxTalks here »
