Jumping Beans Head Towards The Shade! Proven Mathematically.

 

You read that right! The headline is absolutely correct.  If you remember as a kid, those jumping beans would move all over they place. The secret was the twitchy moth larvae inside the seed pod that caused it to move.  If the larvae lived long enough the bean would eventually make its way to the shade.

According to a study, if the bean ends up in a nice sunny spot where it could get hot and over heat, the larvae twitches so it moves a short distance. This lead to someone wondering what the probability of finding shade is.  Of course, before the mathematics could be formulated, the beans had to be observed.  

The scientists purchased jumping beans from a commercial supplier, placed them on specially built platform that kept the temperature about the same all over and recorded the movement. They used an infra red thermometer to keep the platform at the optimum temperature to ensure the most amount of movement. They observed the 37 beans for a total of one hour and used the data to create a simulation of the beans. 

As a result, the scientists found that the beans jumped in a different direction every time and it was not based on any previous moves.  This type of movement is referred to as a random walk by mathematicians.  Although a random walk takes much longer, the beans will eventually visit every place on the surface and at some point end up in shade if the larvae lives long enough. This random walk is their method of trying to find shade.

Using the computer model, they checked to see if a less random pattern of movement would get them to shade more efficiently.  One thought was if the bean traveled in one direction, it would find shade sooner if it chose the correct direction, otherwise they might never find shade.  The model indicated that a less random pattern of movement allowed the jumping bean to find shade faster than the random walk.  However, more beans survived who used the random walking pattern versus the less random pattern of movement.

So the scientists concluded that although the random walk takes longer because they are always randomly switching direction, more larvae in the beans survive because of the increased chance of finding shade. So rather than being efficient, they chose a method that provides a better chance of survival for all.  

I found this quite interesting.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.