FlipFact of the Day: Have you ever wondered why dragonflies seem so hard to catch? It’s because they’re particularly sensitive to movement. This is an extremely handy benefit that comes with having eyes that wrap around their heads like a helmet.
Dragonflies are said to have the largest compound eyes among all insects, with each eye containing up to 30,000 facets. Experts believe that unlike human eyes, each facet in a dragonfly’s eye takes a small part of the image it sees; the dragonfly’s brain puts all of these mini-images together to create a mosaic of its surroundings.
Today’s Science History Milestone: On August 23, 1966, Lunar Orbiter 1 took the first photograph of the Earth from the Moon.
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Cover: Dustin Iskandar
References
- https://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2009/07/08/30000-facets-give-dragonflies
Author: Mikael Angelo Francisco
Bitten by the science writing bug, Mikael has years of writing and editorial experience under his belt. As the editor-in-chief of FlipScience, Mikael has sworn to help make science more fun and interesting for geeky readers and casual audiences alike.
