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.

A local resident of Red Hook, Betty Walsh, crosses a flooded street in Red Hook August 28, 2011 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. While Hurricane Irene has been downgraded to a tropical storm, it has knocked out power to more than 3 million people and is attributed to 15 deaths as it travels up the Eastern seaboard. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images)

Saira Liaqat, 22, a victim of acid violence who was burned 4 years ago, poses in Islamabad, June 11, 2007. Saira is from Lahore and was attacked with acid thrown on her over an argument relating to an arranged marriage. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

An Israeli soldier prays in front of a tank at a military staging area near the border with the Gaza Strip, in this July 24, 2014 file photo. Israel's long-running struggle to balance modern standards with Jewish tradition has come to a head in the military, where new orders curtailing beards among soldiers have met protests from some rabbis. (Photo by Nir Elias/Reuters)

A grasshopper rests on a photographic camera during a meeting in the village of Alto Jamari called to face the threat of armed land grabbers invading the Uru-eu-wau-wau Indigenous Reservation near Campo Novo de Rondonia, Brazil on January 30, 2019. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)

Underwater photographer of the year – winner. Dancing Octopus by Gabriel Barathieu (France). Location: Island of Mayotte, off the coast of south-east Africa. “Balletic and malevolent”, one judge said of this octopus, hunting in a lagoon. Barathieu waited until spring tides when there was just 30cm of water on the flats and plenty of light in the shallows. (Photo by Gabriel Barathieu/UPY2017)

The sun rises over the Baltic Sea and a pier with a tea house in Timmendorfer Strand, Germany, Sunday, August 7, 2022. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

A Palestinian man demonstrates his parkour skills on a beach as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions ease in Gaza City on July 10, 2020. (Photo by Mohammed Salem/Reuters)