They may be small and down in the dirt, but it seems that dung beetles also have their eyes on the stars.

Scientists have shown how these insects will use the Milky Way to orientate themselves as they roll their balls of muck along the ground. The study by Marie Dacke is reported in the journal Current Biology. [1]

“The dung beetles are not necessarily rolling with the Milky Way or 90 degrees to it; they can go at any angle to this band of light in the sky. They use it as a reference,” the Lund University, Sweden, researcher told BBC News.

Astrologists, alchemists and magicians have for a long time postulated that everything in the cosmos affect everything – that all is interconnected in ways we cannot see (Cosmic Sympathy – GR. Κοσμική Συμπάθεια). After scientism has had its laugh with astrology it is now starting to realize that what was once thought of as funny, may have a basis. We are all part of something greater. We may not know what it is. But as beetles are guided by starts thousand of miles away, we are also affected and influenced by abstract notions far far away from this Earth…