Whenever I turn my porch light on at night a host of insects flock to it. Why is that?
In: Biology
There was actually a recent [paper](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-44785-3) about this (not ELI5). They’re essentially wired to assume the brightest light is up, since until we came around it was either the sun or moon. If they pass by a light source they turn to keep it above them, which can cause them to fly in tight loops around a porch light.
Moths navigate by light, using the assumption that light comes from up. Having little sources of light that aren’t the sky messes with their sense of direction, so they can’t figure out a way to fly away from it until the light is turned off.
If you put a bucket of water under the light the bugs will dive into the reflection of the light and drown.
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