Monitoring Butterflies in Troodos: an interdisciplinary approach

 

Speech to the French Delegation from the Academies of Nice and Marseille visiting the Mitsis Commercial School on 9/11/23.

 

 

 

Prior to proceeding with my presentation, I would like to say how delighted I am to having seen our students stand in front of an audience-some of them for the first time- to present science topics of their choosing, on a completely voluntary basis no less. As indicated by the title, our focus revolves around interdisciplinary collaboration. So, what exactly do we mean by this concept?

Many years ago, during my postgraduate studies in Optoelectronics at the University of Crete, my mentor tasked me with researching the bibliography concerning butterfly wings. I found myself perplexed by this request, as a Physicist delving into the realm of Biology. At that time, I couldn't fathom the connection between Physics and Biology. Similarly, our students often question the relevance of mathematical concepts when applied in Physics.

Why did the Electronic Structure & Laser department need the assistance of Biologists?

 

Research on Photonics while studying Biology!

 



Butterflies get their colors from two different sources: ordinary or pigmented color (similar to the ones used by painters) and structural color.

 

 

The structural color of butterflies is where things get interesting. This type of color stems from the specific structure of the butterflies' wings.

 

 

It happens when light passes through a transparent, multilayered surface and is reflected more than once
The multiple reflections compound one another and intensify certain colors while cancelling others, through a phenomenon called interference

 

 

This also results in the phenomenon known as iridescence, the quality of changing colors as you, the observer, moves. A similar mechanism can be found in peacock feathers!

Through collaboration with Biologists and emulation of natural forms, Physicists and Engineers can potentially develop new materials and technologies, such as optics or screens optimized for daylight readability!

 

 

 

Benefits for students

 

By studying the scales on the wings of butterflies, students are introduced for the first time to the notion of Nanotechnology: how to arrange nanostructures on top of each other to manipulate the behavior of matter or even light!

 

 

Furthermore, their curiosity is stimulated towards optical phenomena like interference and refraction, subjects they will delve into in their future curriculum

 

Butterfly Recognition: an implementation of Artificial Intelligence 

Recognizing the species of a butterfly can me very tricky and requires expertise. At the University of Crete, a new application is being used that helps researchers and volunteers identify the various species they photograph. 

This application uses pattern recognition in A.I. and has been developed by Mr. Lazaros Pamperis and Mr. Theivaprakasham Hari of The Nature and Butterfly Society (LINK). We have been in contact with the developers of this application, and they are currently providing us with guidance on how to develop a similar application for the butterflies of Cyprus.

We have created a public folder in Google Drive, where any teacher, student or volunteer can upload videos and photographs of butterflies.

Our student Alexandros processes the videos and photos received by classmates and teachers of the school and then classifies them to the corresponding family-folder.

 
 

Videos are extremely valuable as they contain dozens of frames that can later be used by the algorithm.

 

So far, we have been especially lucky with the species known as Hipparchia cypriensis. We hope that if we publicize our initiative via social media, we may be able to gather enough photos and video and make our algorithm work by the end of this June.

As an epilogue to a science project…

 We would like to present to you the Cypriot Song: L'AMOUR L’ENCHANTEUR.
Composition: by our Music Teacher, Costas Kakoyiannis.
Lyrics: by our Greek Literature Teacher, Pambos Kouzalis
French subtitles: by our French Literature Teacher, Maria Vasileiadou
Vocalist: Eleni Tovletian, Biologist and Researcher

S.T.E.A.M. Learning Ecologies

...Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics combined into one single project. Isn't this what STEAM education is all about?




Thank you for your time,

Emmanouil G. Kapetanakis