Interesting new study:
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/ ... 3d-vision/
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notro ... -distance/
Now, to get my hands on the actual article from Science.
On the vision of jumping spiders
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rjlittlefield
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Excellent -- "depth from focus". If you Google on that phrase, you'll find a lot of papers about using that trick in engineered systems. It's very nice to see it in a biological system. As usual, the bugs did it first!
Edit: I see in the second article a statement that jumpers definitely do not use stereo vision. That's distinctly contrary to what's claimed in many other writings. Wonder how that will shake out!
--Rik
Edit: I see in the second article a statement that jumpers definitely do not use stereo vision. That's distinctly contrary to what's claimed in many other writings. Wonder how that will shake out!
--Rik
Interesting point, Rik. I’d like to know how they determined this. And while Ed Yong is a really good science writer, there isn’t any substitute for reading the actual journal article, is there? I don’t have access to Science at present, so will have to wait until I get to a library that carries it.
Prior to PMN, I might not have noted a headline about the eyes of jumping spiders. But as they are such a common subject around here--and at times, such a compelling one--that it seems impossible not to take an interest in how they work.
Prior to PMN, I might not have noted a headline about the eyes of jumping spiders. But as they are such a common subject around here--and at times, such a compelling one--that it seems impossible not to take an interest in how they work.
I've wondered about this, too.gmazza wrote:This is a very interesting development, I still wonder why jumper spiders deliberately jump to flash diffusers every photo session, if the light of flash relate to something (situation) found in nature.
My personal theory is that they will mostly jump on anything that's around, especially while they are in a hunting mode. When I try to shoot them in natural light, they jump on my camera or on the top of my head (I have brown hair...). Most of the ones I've personally photographed don't react to flash but some visibly flinch shortly after the flash fires. I once had a jumper follow me over 50 feet (15 meters) along a handrail next to a walkway. I kept backing up and pausing to get another photo and it chased me the full length of the handrail. Following it around more revealed that it was hunting all along the handrail, a popular place for prey to walk.
-Phil
"Diffraction never sleeps"
"Diffraction never sleeps"
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Harold Gough
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