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February 2, 2011

Butterfly's navigation secret revealed - Technology & science - Science - LiveScience - msnbc.com

Butterfly's navigation secret revealed
Flight simulator shows sensors hard-wired to circadian clocks

The monarch butterfly is known to use the angle of sunlight as a navigational guide on its annual fall migration from across North America to Mexico. But how it processes the information has been a mystery.

Now scientists have used a flight simulator and peeked inside the butterfly brain to learn that their light-detecting sensors are hard-wired to their circadian clocks, allowing the creatures to compensate for the time of day.

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