Here's How That Annoying Fly Dodges Your Swatter | Deep Look
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A fly has a pair of tiny, dumbbell-shaped limbs called halteres that were once a second pair of wings. They wield them to make razor-sharp turns and land out of reach on your ceiling. But don't despair there *is* a trick to smacking these infuriating insects.
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DEEP LOOK is a ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small.
---
Flies are formidable opponents, with an arsenal of tools they carry all over their bodies. For starters, their hair and antennae help a fly sense us as we walk up to them. And a flys eyes and tiny brain process information 10 times faster than human eyes and brains.
Compared to flies, humans are slow and sluggish creatures, said Sanjay Sane, who researches flies at the National Centre for Biological Sciences at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bangalore, India.
Once the fly escapes your swatter and is in the air, its in its element and your job is even tougher. Seen up close and slowed down, a flys aerobatics are impressive: It makes razor-sharp turns with ease and at great speed.
What makes this possible is a pair of modified wings called halteres, a Greek word for dumbbell, which describes their shape. All of the 200,000 species of flies that scientists have described have a pair of halteres and a pair of wings. (That includes mosquitoes, which, wouldnt you know it, are flies too). Most other insects bees, butterflies, dragonflies have four wings and no halteres.
--- How do flies halteres work?
As a fly turns, its halteres sense the rotation. In a split second, neurons at the base of the halteres send information to the flys muscles to steer its wings and keep its head steady.
Houseflies flap their wings about 200 times per second, which means they really only have five milliseconds to figure out what the next wingbeat is going to be like. And if youre using vision that takes too long to do, said Jessica Fox, who studies flies at Case Western Reserve University, in Ohio. They really need a mechanical receptor in order to be able to sense their body rotations and correct them on the timescale that they need.
--- How do flies land and stay on the ceiling?
Their halteres allow them to rotate quickly to land on the ceiling. Once theyre there, they hang upside down with tiny hooks and sticky pads on their feet. The pads, called pulvilli, have microscopic hairs that excrete a liquid that sticks to the surface.
--- How do I swat a fly?
Flies process information about moving objects but they cannot process static objects, Sane explained. Thus, the best way to approach a fly is in small, quasi-static steps such that they do not see you as a moving object.
---+ Read the entire article on KQED Science:
https://www.kqed.org/science/1971058/heres-how-that-annoying-fly-dodges-your-swatter/
---+ Shoutout!
Congratulations to the these 5 fans on our Community Tab for identifying the tiny limbs beneath a fly's wings - halteres:
Tom Riddle
Unknown Gamer
CaeliGlori
TorterraGrey8
Juanma G.V.
---+ Thank you to our Top Patreon Supporters ($10+ per month)!
Bill Cass
Justin Bull
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Dia
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luna
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Supernovabetty
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Aurora
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Shelley Pearson Cranshaw
Cindy McGill
Laura Sanborn
Silvan Wendland
monoirre
Rick Wong
Carlos Carrasco
Titania Juang
Roberta K Wright
Misia Clive
Nathan Wright
Sonia Tanlimco
Levi Cai
Nicolette Ray
Teresa Lavell
Caitlin McDonough
Kristy Freeman
Blanca Vides
Alexandre Valdetaro
Guillaume Morin
Noreen Herrington
Scott Faunce
Cristen Rasmussen
Dogman
Louis O'Neill
Kallie Moore
Geidi Rodriguez
Syniurge
SueEllen McCann
KW
Joao Ascensao
Aurora Mitchell
Sharon Merritt
Adam Kurtz
TierZoo
---+ Follow KQED Science and Deep Look:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kqedscience/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/kqedscience
---+ About KQED
KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate in San Francisco, CA, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, radio and web media.
Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, the largest science and environment reporting unit in California. KQED Science is supported by The National Science Foundation, the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, the Vadasz Family Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Campaign 21 and the members of KQED.
SUBSCRIBE to Deep Look! http://goo.gl/8NwXqt
Please join our community on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/deeplook
DEEP LOOK is a ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small.
---
Flies are formidable opponents, with an arsenal of tools they carry all over their bodies. For starters, their hair and antennae help a fly sense us as we walk up to them. And a flys eyes and tiny brain process information 10 times faster than human eyes and brains.
Compared to flies, humans are slow and sluggish creatures, said Sanjay Sane, who researches flies at the National Centre for Biological Sciences at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bangalore, India.
Once the fly escapes your swatter and is in the air, its in its element and your job is even tougher. Seen up close and slowed down, a flys aerobatics are impressive: It makes razor-sharp turns with ease and at great speed.
What makes this possible is a pair of modified wings called halteres, a Greek word for dumbbell, which describes their shape. All of the 200,000 species of flies that scientists have described have a pair of halteres and a pair of wings. (That includes mosquitoes, which, wouldnt you know it, are flies too). Most other insects bees, butterflies, dragonflies have four wings and no halteres.
--- How do flies halteres work?
As a fly turns, its halteres sense the rotation. In a split second, neurons at the base of the halteres send information to the flys muscles to steer its wings and keep its head steady.
Houseflies flap their wings about 200 times per second, which means they really only have five milliseconds to figure out what the next wingbeat is going to be like. And if youre using vision that takes too long to do, said Jessica Fox, who studies flies at Case Western Reserve University, in Ohio. They really need a mechanical receptor in order to be able to sense their body rotations and correct them on the timescale that they need.
--- How do flies land and stay on the ceiling?
Their halteres allow them to rotate quickly to land on the ceiling. Once theyre there, they hang upside down with tiny hooks and sticky pads on their feet. The pads, called pulvilli, have microscopic hairs that excrete a liquid that sticks to the surface.
--- How do I swat a fly?
Flies process information about moving objects but they cannot process static objects, Sane explained. Thus, the best way to approach a fly is in small, quasi-static steps such that they do not see you as a moving object.
---+ Read the entire article on KQED Science:
https://www.kqed.org/science/1971058/heres-how-that-annoying-fly-dodges-your-swatter/
---+ Shoutout!
Congratulations to the these 5 fans on our Community Tab for identifying the tiny limbs beneath a fly's wings - halteres:
Tom Riddle
Unknown Gamer
CaeliGlori
TorterraGrey8
Juanma G.V.
---+ Thank you to our Top Patreon Supporters ($10+ per month)!
Bill Cass
Justin Bull
Burt Humburg
Alex
Shebastian Reyes
Daniel Weinstein
Egg-Roll
Karen Reynolds
Wild Turkey
Chris B Emrick
Josh Kuroda
Tea Torvinen
dane rosseter
David Deshpande
Daisuke Goto
Companion Cube
Tianxing Wang
Elizabeth Ann Ditz
Kevin Judge
Leonhardt Wille
Laurel Przybylski
Dia
Kelly Hong
Robert Amling
Gerardo Alfaro
luna
Mary Truland
Sayantan Dasgupta
Supernovabetty
Joshua Murallon Robertson
Aurora
Pamela Parker
Carrie Mukaida
Shelley Pearson Cranshaw
Cindy McGill
Laura Sanborn
Silvan Wendland
monoirre
Rick Wong
Carlos Carrasco
Titania Juang
Roberta K Wright
Misia Clive
Nathan Wright
Sonia Tanlimco
Levi Cai
Nicolette Ray
Teresa Lavell
Caitlin McDonough
Kristy Freeman
Blanca Vides
Alexandre Valdetaro
Guillaume Morin
Noreen Herrington
Scott Faunce
Cristen Rasmussen
Dogman
Louis O'Neill
Kallie Moore
Geidi Rodriguez
Syniurge
SueEllen McCann
KW
Joao Ascensao
Aurora Mitchell
Sharon Merritt
Adam Kurtz
TierZoo
---+ Follow KQED Science and Deep Look:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kqedscience/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/kqedscience
---+ About KQED
KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate in San Francisco, CA, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, radio and web media.
Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, the largest science and environment reporting unit in California. KQED Science is supported by The National Science Foundation, the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, the Vadasz Family Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Campaign 21 and the members of KQED.
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