Genius Wasps Can Recognize Their Friends' Faces

Okay, maybe not their “friends” exactly — it’s unclear if wasps have friends. However, scientists have found that one species of paper wasp could recognize and distinguish between images of their own kind’s distinctively-marked faces. And they recognized these images much more quickly than other pictures, like black-and-white shapes. Says David Leopold, a researcher not involved in the study, “It appears that something we seem to think is so complicated — specialization for facial recognition — is something that can emerge separately in really diverse species.” He also says that the research could help us understand human disorders that affect facial recognition. Also, if we can train the wasps to recognize people’s faces, they can work for the TSA.

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