Today I learned that after gathering up the perfect ball of poo, a dung beetle will swiftly roll it away from all of her vicious competitors then climb on top of the dung ball and do a little dance - rotating around in a circle. Researchers have recently found that the beetles are actually orienting themselves with celestial bodies. They will repeat this dance any time they lose control of their prize or hit uneven terrain, insuring that they are always on the correct course.
What is far more interesting is that this research comes from the US Air Force, specifically from a research grant to study "Nocturnal Visual Orientation in Flying Insects: A Benchmark for the Design of Vision-based Sensors in Micro-Aerial Vehicles". I find a sort of poetry in looking to nature to advance technology - it is hard to best that which has taken billions of years to perfect.
The biggest solutions can come from the smallest of things. Rather than basking in our vast superiority it may serve us better to stop and appreciate the beauty of even the lowly dung beetle.
The full report can be found here.
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