You must have read many poems about candles and butterflies and also seen how moths circle around the light like madmen.
But why they do this is a question that has been sought for centuries.
Now scientists have given a possible answer to this question which is completely opposite to expectations.
Experts from the Imperial College London in the United Kingdom used the latest videography technology to find out the answer to this question and discovered that the centuries-old stories of the love of candles and butterflies are rumors, but the reality is something else.
In fact, moths do not want to illuminate themselves, but rather it is their internal GPS or mechanism that forces them to circle around the light.
It may be hard to believe, but the bright light distorts the sense of being above and below them.
Insects determine their flight direction by taking into account the fact that the sky is much brighter than the ground.
So when they see a light source, moths and other insects circle around it to keep their direction, which makes us think they are lovers of light bulbs in the house.
When these insects receive conflicting messages from other signals, such as gravity, their minds become confused, causing them to crash into objects or wake up on the ground.
Simply put, artificial light affects the ability of many insects to maintain their position towards the sky and they become trapped around our bulbs.
According to research, humans have been taking advantage of this trap of light for centuries, and written records dating back to a century AD mention this behavior of insects.
Since then, there have been many ideas about the relationship between candles and kites, like moths circling the moon, but until now, due to the lack of suitable technology, the truth has not been revealed.
According to the researchers, 3D tracking of small insects in low light is challenging and the necessary tools were not available in the past.
"Through innovations in camera technology and tracking software, we have learned why insects move around artificial light," he added.
They flew 477 different species of insects near artificial lights to observe their behaviors.
They discovered that when insects are near artificial light, they become trapped in a lethal cycle of spinning until they die or crash into something, but are often blown away by the wind. They manage to escape.
He said that we have just observed the behavior of insects near light and in this regard, research work is needed on the long-range effects of our light.
The results of this research were published in the journal Nature Communications.