22 January, 11:40
Shezhire in AI era: Maksat Zhabagin on preserving national digital heritageScientists have used a combination of artificial intelligence and modelling of fossil wings dating back millions of years to figure out what sounds Jurassic insects may have made.
Their findings were published in August in a scientific journal called the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The team of scientists studied 20 fossils of insects in China.
They were all from the Jurassic period, making them over 165 million years old.
Well, the way insects make sounds is a bit like playing a musical instrument.
They rub certain parts of their body together in order to make vibrations, which we can hear.
Think of instruments like xylophones - when you hit it with something else, it makes a sound.
The scientists found lots of different types of insect calls - some were low-pitched like crickets, while others were high-pitched like leafhoppers.
But there was something else they discovered which they weren't expecting.
"Some of these ancient insects sang high-pitched songs that were so high, humans can't even hear them!
"This was a big surprise, because scientists used to think insects only evolved those super-high calls to avoid bats.
"But bats didn't appear until 100 million years later. So something else must have been listening."Co-author of the study said.
She continued: "We think early mammals with good hearing were eavesdropping on these insects — trying to hunt them by sound.
"Imagine a world where insects are singing, dinosaurs are roaming, and tiny mammals are creeping around, all listening to each other."
22 January, 11:40
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