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 snapshot from mountaineer's life”. Have you ever wondered how does a mountaineer's day start? I will give you a hint: you wake up at 3 am, set the stove, wake up your partner, pretend it is warm, quickly consume a high-calorie breakfast, watch your friends slowly ascending the icy slopes of your dream summit with their tiny head torches glimmering against perfectly blue ice, and hope for the good weather. One would ask: why all this trouble? The answer is easy: for the love of the adventure and the unknown. Location: Chamonix, Haute Savoye, France. (Photo and caption by Kamil Tamiola/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

ATTENTION! All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture.

Amy Rimmer, Research Engineer at Jaguar Land Rover, demonstrates the car manufacturer's Advanced Highway Assist in a Range Rover, which drives the vehicle, overtakes and can detect vehicles in the blind spot, during the first demonstrations of the UK Autodrive Project at HORIBA MIRA Proving Ground in Nuneaton, Warwickshire on Friday October 21, 2016. (Photo by Fabio De Paola/PA Wire)

A model poses with “The Wellbeing Toilet” the winning entry from a Dyno-Rod Initiative to create a new design for the domestic toilet at Central Saint Martins on November 18, 2013 in London, England. The concept was commissioned to mark 50 years of Dyno-Rod and World Toilet Day on November 19th, 2013 The “Wellbeing Toilet” looks at the health and wellbeing aspect of getting rid of your bodily waste by being sculpted to enhance the position of your body by enabling you to squat rather than sit. (Photo by Miles Willis/Getty Images for Dyno-Rod)

In this Wednesday, July 23, 2014 file photo, Omaha photographer Lane Hickenbottom photographs the night sky in a pasture near Callaway, Neb. With no moon in the sky, the Milky Way was visible to the naked eye. More than one-third of the world’s population can no longer see the Milky Way because of man-made lights, according to a scientific paper by Light Pollution Science and Technology Institute's Fabio Falchi and his team members, published on Friday, June 10, 2016. (Photo by Travis Heying/The Wichita Eagle via AP Photo)

Vehicles move past a man resting on a taxi, as he waits for passengers, along a road in Karachi, Pakistan, May 5, 2015. (Photo by Akhtar Soomro/Reuters)

An Afghan girl rides a horse at the beach in Karachi, Pakistan, 07 September 2020. (Photo by Rehan Khan/EPA/EFE)

A policeman reacts during a clash with protestors during a protest against the proposed changes to France's working week and layoff practices, in Lyon, central France, Thursday, April 28, 2016. French protesters are back on the streets over proposed reforms to the country's labor rules and strikers have forced cancellations and delays at two airports serving Paris. (Photo by Laurent Cipriani/AP Photo)