The Beetles

"When the night is cloudy there is still a light that they will see"

Yes, I know that this sentence is not to be found in "Let it be", but wow, it really fits my thoughts perfectly. Last week, I had the pleasure of giving two presentations to tell an audience and colleagues about my research. And I confess: while preparing these talks, I always get super excited again about my research!

For example, take the case of the theory of homochirality: the left- or right-handedness of molecules that is characteristic of life. In my blog of 21 March, I explain that we are looking for unambiguous signs of life, of which the concept of homochirality is central to my research.

During my talks, I explained the principle of homochirality with a shiny green beetle. Green beetles are 100% homochiral. When sunlight shines on their skin, the reflected light is 100% left circularly polarised. This causes us to see a green beetle with one eye and a pitch black beetle with the other, when we look at the beetle through 3D glasses! Isn't that cool!

Besides this phenomenon, non-green beetles can also be linked to astronomy. African dung beetles study the sky at night. They navigate themselves with the Moon and, when the sky is cloudy, with the polarisation direction of the Moonlight. Moonlight is reflected sunlight, so during daytime they do the same thing but then with sunlight! In this way, they always know how to find their direction of travel at all times.

"When the night is cloudy there is still a light that they will see", the Beetles.