Let there be light!!! Part 1

Reading the recent Geo Magazine I came to know that in one night an estimated billion insects die in Germany alone. Reason!! , Street Lights. These insects get confused and dance around these lights mesmerized. Many thoughts raced through my mind

• How did they estimate the number
• How fast do these insects multiply
• Why do they go towards the light in the first place
• I wish the mosquitoes did that, but I doubt if even one died that night, they are too smart

How can you do an estimate in a street light near you:

• Estimate number of dead bodies in an hour multiple by number of hours in the night into approximate number of Street Lights in Bangalore
• Barricade the area of predators, weight 10 dead insects, next day morning round the lot and weigh the total and estimate number for one light one night
• Take sample count in 10 cities, 10 towns, 10 villages, 10 highways spots (to get the idea of variance of insects according to demography)
• Or may be better, just switch of the street light and take a wild guess like 1 billion

The other questions I leave it as an exercise for you all.

These poor insects gets confused thinking of the light as moon in the night sky, all those who have worked late night shifts and fallen in love would agree what a mess it does to our internal bio clocks.

Some Solutions

1. The street lights can they be switched of in the night. Sensors should activate the lights when they detect human motion.
2. Can we invent some special light type which is less intense and does not attract insects
3. Can we install 2-3 additional moons in the orbit, it will save a lot of power and simply reflect sunlight

Conclusion
Human History is full of inventions, followed by mess ups , followed by further new inventions, followed by further mess ups
Let me not think too much, I’ll just Switch of the Lights like my dad used to say, when I am not using them