ABSTRACT
Humans are not alone in their appreciation of shine: many species, such as magpies and bower birds, have a penchant for bling. Some species, such as moths, are fatally attracted to light, as Tim Edensor observes later in exploring the impact of lighthouses on local wildlife. But equally relevant in thinking about attractive light is the range of species which use light not only to entice members of the opposite sex, but also to attract prey and confuse or warn off predators. Like lighthouses on Earth, which can be identified by the frequency of their light beams, each pulsar is individually recognisable by its particular spin rate. Pulsars are the most accurate clocks in the cosmos, maintaining the same rate of spin over millions of years. The idea of using pulsars in navigation systems emerged when these objects were discovered in the 1960s, but it is only recently that it has seemed feasible to implement such a cosmic navigating system.
