Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Nautilus

    What Tech Can Learn from the Fruit Fly’s Search Algorithm

    by Brian Gallagher Nov 13, 2017 5 minutes

    Scientists are starting to understand that search powers much of the natural world, too.Image by Intelligent Product Solutions / YouTube

    Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” Verse 7:7 from the Gospel of Matthew is generally considered to be a comment on prayer, but it could just as well be about the power of search. Search has become one of the key technologies of the information age, powering industry behemoths and helping us with our daily chores. But that’s not where it ends. Scientists are starting to understand that search powers much of the natural world, too.

    Saket Navlakha, of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, works at the “interface of theoretical computer science, machine learning, and

    You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

    More from Nautilus

    Nautilus2 min read
    Color-Coding Crops for Climate Change
    Green is the color of growth in the plant world. From an aerial view, most farms blanket the land in quilts of varying shades of green. But what if the stems and leaves of your average corn, barley, and rice plants were hairy and blue instead? One te
    Nautilus7 min read
    Insects and Other Animals May Have Consciousness
    In 2022, researchers at the Bee Sensory and Behavioral Ecology Lab at Queen Mary University of London observed bumblebees doing something remarkable: The diminutive, fuzzy creatures were engaging in activity that could only be described as play. Give
    Nautilus7 min read
    A Radical Rescue for Caribbean Reefs
    It’s an all-too-familiar headline: Coral reefs are in crisis. Indeed, in the past 50 years, roughly half of Earth’s coral reefs have died. Coral ecosystems are among the most biodiverse and valuable places on Earth, supporting upward of 860,000 speci

    Related Books & Audiobooks