sensing the invisible

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• Article: How Bees See, And Why It Matters
  Scientists consider bees to be a keystone species. They are so important to an ecosystem that it will collapse without them. At least 90 commercially grown crops depend upon bee pollination for survival. How important is the pollination by bees? Ask an almond grower. Without bees, there would be no almonds. Apples, blueberries, cherries, avocados, cucumbers, onions, grapefruit, oranges and pumpkins would also disappear. Bees are the undisputed champions of the pollination world. And their secret weapon? Sight.
• Article: Meet “Chirocopter”: A drone that flies within swarms of bats
  Wildlife biologists have put drones to work counting whales, checking bird nests, and nabbing poachers. Now, they’ve designed a drone that can hover within fast-flowing swarms of bats as they zip across a darkened nighttime sky. The drone—or “Chirocopter” (named after Chiroptera, the scientific name for bats)—is equipped with a microphone to record echolocation chirps (sounds that bats use to navigate) and a thermal camera that can “see” bats by detecting their body heat. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/03/meet-chirocopter-drone-flies-within-swarms-bats
• Article: Rudolph and relatives have UV vision
  The reindeer of the high north can see light that is invisible to our eyes. This is a big advantage in a snow white landscape.
• Bats Use Polarized Light To Set Internal Compasses
  Although bats are known for using echolocation to orient and navigate, they draw on a suite of senses to get around. A new study reveals another ability: Bats use patterns of polarized light in the sky to navigate.
• BioSTEAM: Make an Interactive Polarized Light Visualizer!
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• Lesson: Polarization
  You may not be aware of it, but polarized light is all around you. Generally speaking, the human visual system is not particularly adept at perceiving polarized light. While some animals, bees in particular, are quite sensitive to polarized light, humans usually find it difficult to detect it with the unaided eye.  Find out more from this lesson on Polarization from Arbor Scientific.
• Project: Invisible Art- Mosaics, Polarized Light, and 3D Glasses
  This simple project capitalizes on the ability of certain materials that not only polarize light but twist it, and of 3D glasses to see that light as various colors. https://www.instructables.com/id/Invisible-Art-Mosaics-Polarized-Light-and-3D-Glass/
• Video: Echolocation
  Are bats really blind? Not exactly. Besides their eyes, bats use a special process called echolocation to navigate their environment. Watch this video to find out how bats "see" the world around them as they look for prey in the dark.
• Video: Electric Buzzaloo: How Bees See the Invisible
  Bees are amazing social insects, and their relationship with flowers is one of nature's coolest examples of "mutualism". It got me wondering: How do bees see the world? Enjoy this look at how bees see in ultraviolet and even sense electric fields!
• Video: PHYSICS GIRL EXPERIMENT- Only some humans can see this type of light
  Join Physics girl on a tour of polarized light and learn how to do a simple project to see the invisible.
• Video: UV Camera Shows 10 Fruits in an Amazing New Way
  For this UV video, the subject is illuminated directly by UV emitting lamps . UV filter is placed on the lens, which allows ultraviolet light to pass and which absorbs or blocks all visible and infrared light. UV filters are made from special colored glass and may be coated or sandwiched with other filter glass to aid in blocking unwanted wavelengths.
• Video: What Is Echolocation? | Earth Unplugged
  Echolocation allows animals to build up an understanding of their surroundings but how does it work? Find out the science of echolocation in the BBC Unplugged video.
• Video: Wonderful experiment with polarized light
  This video is about simple experiment with polarized light. All you need is polarized glasses (for 3D films) and LCD monitor as source of polarized light. Take some transparent plastic things and get ready to say "WOW!".