Get the latest tech news

Fukushima insects tested for cognition

In the contaminated area around Fukushima, Japan, scientists are studying the impact of radioactivity on the cognitive abilities of pollinating insects such as honeybees and giant hornets.

Armant works on the ecological impact of such radiation, carrying out long-term studies on the fauna and flora around Chernobyl (currently inaccessible, due to the war in Ukraine) and Fukushima, Japan, while Lihoreau focuses on bee intelligence and the factors that may interfere with it. "A few years ago, a researcher in my lab came up with the idea of deploying various types of sensor to monitor, preferably automatically, the biological activity of certain species in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster," Armant explains. " The device developed by Lihoreau's team (made up of biologists, engineers, modellers and ecologists) had until now only been tested near Toulouse (southwestern France), rather than in the extreme conditions of an area like Fukushima, which the scientists were able to enter with the help of their Japanese colleagues.

Get the Android app