The Atlantic

Humans Made Drones by Copying Birds. Birds Are Fighting Back.

As machines fill the skies, they meet resistance from the animals who already live there.
Source: Esther Aarts

IGallery of Australia’s permanent collection is a painting by Sidney Nolan titled . One in a series of artworks chronicling the downfall of the Kelly gang—infamous outlaws of the late 1800s—it depicts a radiant peacock encountering a policeman. Peacocks, the painting’s interpretive text explains, were in those days sometimes dragooned as sentries. The birds can sight a threat two miles away and tend to shriek in panic.

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic4 min read
Hayao Miyazaki’s Anti-war Fantasia
Once, in a windowless conference room, I got into an argument with a minor Japanese-government official about Hayao Miyazaki. This was in 2017, three years after the director had announced his latest retirement from filmmaking. His final project was
The Atlantic3 min readDiscrimination & Race Relations
The Legacy of Charles V. Hamilton and Black Power
This is an edition of Time-Travel Thursdays, a journey through The Atlantic’s archives to contextualize the present and surface delightful treasures. Sign up here. This week, The New York Times published news of the death of Charles V. Hamilton, the
The Atlantic6 min read
The Happy Way to Drop Your Grievances
Want to stay current with Arthur’s writing? Sign up to get an email every time a new column comes out. In 15th-century Germany, there was an expression for a chronic complainer: Greiner, Zanner, which can be translated as “whiner-grumbler.” It was no

Related Books & Audiobooks