The mathematical thinking of insects– a practical experiment led by

Usama Abdul Karim
How insects find their foods? If we leave a piece of food out for a few hours or a day, we might notice insects on it, eating the food. We may be surprised and wonder how the insects found the food and why they came to eat it without anyone inviting them. Animals often use their sense of smell to find food. In nature, the first to find food has a better chance of survival than others. But how does their brain recognize a smell and guide them towards it? According to previous research, insects have a very strong sense of smell, which helps them find food. However, I believe insects also use other methods. In an experiment I did at home, I discovered that insects, like worms, may use advanced mental patterns, or mathematical models, to find their next meal. In the experiment called “Push and pull?”, I left a cupcake in my house overnight. The idea is that to find the cupcake, an insect would likely follow the scent. It would move around, sniffing to detect the direction where the smell is strongest, and then walk towards the source. This shows how insects use their sense of smell to locate food, just like how we might follow the smell of something tasty to find it. As the insect gets closer, the scent becomes stronger, helping it pinpoint the exact location of the food It turns out; insects use a “pull and push” strategy when searching for food, but with an interesting addition. A nerve cell detects the smell of food and guides the worm in that direction. If the smell gets stronger, the nerve cell stays active, prompting the worm to continue moving forward. If the smell weakens, the nerve cell signals the worm to stop and search for a different route. How does it figure out the best path? A second neural cell helps the insect find a better path, like how Waze recalculates routes. This cell detects changes in odor intensity, or “derivatives.” If the intensity is positive, it means the insect is getting closer to the scent, like a “pull.” If the intensity is negative, it means the insect is moving away, like a “push.” When the cell detects a negative change, it signals that the insect is moving away from the scent and should find a new path. If the reading is positive, it tells the worm to keep going in the same direction. The insect uses a two-part system to find food. First, it takes an initial scent measurement to set a baseline. Then, it constantly checks new scent measurements and compares them to the original one. By doing this, it determines if the scent intensity is increasing or decreasing. This method helps the worm figure out if it’s moving closer to or further from the source of food. It’s a simple yet effective technique for navigating toward food sources. These insects offer a valuable lesson. When solving a problem, quick solutions can be appealing. However, we need a backup system to track whether we’re actually moving in the right direction. This monitoring is important, even if the new path differs from our original plan, concluded Usama Abdul Karim. Ainsect uses just two neural cells to make this path calculation in his own mind. Now, imagine what humans could achieve with our 100 billion neural cells.