A snapshot of the heavens taken by a dancing dung beetle on a ball of poo could one day help driverless cars find their way across the city. Scientists from Sweden have found evidence that dung beetles snap an image of the night sky, which they then use to navigate, so they can move their dung balls away from other thieving beetles.Their latest research adds to work they have done here in South Africa, where they found that various species of dung beetles use the Milky Way and the sun to navigate.They also appeared to orientate themselves by preforming a dance on top of their ball of poo before moving off.The insects, explained Basil el Jundi, one of the researchers from Lund University, use these navigation aids so they can maintain a straight line when rolling their ball of dung."We believe that when they dance on the dung they take a snap of the sky, which they then store in the brain."When they move they compare the changes in the sky to this image," El Jundi said.The researchers conducted experiments on dung beetles in the Kalahari that only had access to artificial light that simulated the moon and sun. By changing the placement of the artificial suns and moons, they could compare how beetles changed direction on the move.El Jundi believes that this process could be used in driverless vehicles, in which the computer would take a photograph and navigate by comparing it to changes in the environment.The US military has shown an interest in how insects like dung beetles navigate. They want a system that can navigate without relying on external sources like satellites for GPS navigation."We would also like to find out where this snapshot is stored in the brain, and where it is matched," he said...