Thursday, August 28, 2008

Why Flies Are So Hard to Swat

Why Flies Are So Hard to Swat, because they can comprehend a situation and react in roughly 100 milliseconds. That is what Caltech Scientists have just discovered. Combine that reaction time with nearly 360 degree field of view and you could have some trouble ridding yourself of your uninvited guest.


http://mr.caltech.edu
http://mr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR13179.html

"Using high-resolution, high-speed digital imaging of fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) faced with a looming swatter, Dickinson and graduate student Gwyneth Card have determined the secret to a fly's evasive maneuvering. Long before the fly leaps, its tiny brain calculates the location of the impending threat, comes up with an escape plan, and places its legs in an optimal position to hop out of the way in the opposite direction. All of this action takes place within about 100 milliseconds after the fly first spots the swatter."

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