A vendor sells beef at a market in Hanoi, Vietnam 01 October 2024. Vietnam's official manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) declined to 47.3 points in September, down from 52.4 points in the previous month, according to the latest survey from S&P Global. (Photo by Luong Thai Linh/EPA)

An Icelandic mare and her foal stand on a meadow at a stud farm in Wehrheim near Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

Jess Fulton, 15, from Ayrshire rides her pony Harley through the waves at Irvine Beach, UK on October 20, 2025. (Photo by Jamie Williamson/The Times)

A man is seen wrapped with pythons, some which include the Albino Burmese Python, as part of a show celebrating the coming Year of the Snake in the Chinese calendar, while spectators look on, in Malabon city, north of Manila, Philippines, December 28, 2012. (Photo by Romeo Ranoco/Reuters)

Once upon a time a myth was born that insects, unlike animals, are just a machines that not capable of learning and survive only based on their instincts. That myth has become the widespread opinion. Of course, this opinion is indeed erroneous, like many other widespread opinions. Let us try to find out which part is a myth and which part is true.

Timbuktu: A UN peacekeeper from Burkina Faso stands guard at the Djinguereber mosque, built in the 14th century, during a visit by a UN delegation on election day in Timbuktu, Mali, July 28, 2013. (Photo by Joe Penney/Reuters)

A girl uses her mobile phone during the evening at the National Park in Khartoum, Sudan, April 24, 2015. (Photo by Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/Reuters)

Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) (R) stands in front of Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) as they arrive for U.S. President George W. Bush's annual State of the Union speech to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington in this January 23, 2007 file photo. Hillary Clinton announced her second run for the presidency on April 12, 2015 starting her campaign as the Democrats' best hope of fending off a crowded field of lesser-known Republican rivals and retaining the White House. (Photo by Larry Downing/Reuters)