--- title: "Scientists Suggest New Reason Dumb Bugs Smash Into Lights" description: "Like a moth to a lamp, humans have long thought we knew why bugs are so attracted to lights — but new research suggests we may have been dim." date: "2023-04-30" modified: "2023-04-30" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/bugs-light-study" categories: - "Science & Energy" tags: - "artificial light" - "bugs" - "insects" - "the digest" --- # Scientists Suggest New Reason Dumb Bugs Smash Into Lights ![Like a moth to a lamp, humans have long thought we knew why bugs are so attracted to lights — but new research suggests we may have been dim.]() *insects attracted to a flood light in Orbost, New South Wales, Australia. \Image: Getty Images\* ## Bug Brained Like a moth to a lamp, we humans have long thought we knew why bugs are so attracted to artificial lights — but new research suggests we may have been just as dim as they are. New research out of Imperial College London and Florida International University posits that artificial light might be messing with these poor bugs' brains because, as the biologists behind the [yet-to-be-peer-reviewed study]() note, the insects aren't flying directly toward the light the way scientists previously presumed. Using what the paper describes as "high-resolution motion capture in the laboratory and stereo-videography" to film butterflies, dragonflies, and moths, the researchers found that instead of flying head-first towards artificial lights, bugs are going butt-first towards them, which can "trap an insect" in the kind of frenzied circuitous holding patterns we witness when bugs bump into outdoor lamps. ## Lamp Is Love In an [interview with the *New York Times*]() about the new research, insect flight expert Tyson Hendrick of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said that this study lends credence to one of his long-standing theories. "This is the best argument so far for what explains this behavior," Hendrick, who did not work on the paper, told the *NYT*. "It’s one of these things that we all sort of think we know about nature, and it’s getting overturned." Beyond just explaining the bizarre way insects fly around lights, the paper also offers a simple mechanism to head off bugs zapping their way into an early grave — by putting up outdoor lights that point downward, instead of those that shine horizontally or upward. Those types of lights, the researchers noted in the paper, seemed to mess with the bugs' behavior less. As sad as this new knowledge is, it does make a lot of sense, especially given how erratic bugs seem to act when confronted with an artificial light source — the same effect that led to the extremely bizarre [moth lamp memes]() of yore. **More on bugs:** [*Furious Fire Ants "Rain Down" on Hawaiian Residents and Bite Them In Their Sleep*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()