Something About Flies

This is a rather interesting news item, and, if your idea of relaxation in your job is to have a go at the flies with a book or newspaper, you will gain some useful knowledge.

The common housefly, which is such an irritant hereabouts, is one of the quickest living things we have.

When you go for a swat at it from behind, the fly moves its middle legs forward a little and leans back, so it is ideally positioned to jump forwards into the air and away from the threat. When you try to hit it square on its nose, it moves its legs backwards and leaps that way. When you take a sideways swipe, it keeps its legs still and leans to the other side and gets ready for a lateral escape.

The entire process of calculating the direction of the threat and preparing the body takes just one tenth of a second, and the fly will have flown away within two tenths of a second.

Dr Michael Dickinson of California University of Technology, who did the research on this, is amazed:

 “These movements are made very rapidly, within about 200 milliseconds, but within that time the animal determines where the  threat is coming from and activates an appropriate set of movements to position its legs and wings. This illustrates how rapidly the fly's brain can process sensory information into an appropriate motor response. 
“We also found that when the fly makes planning movements prior to take-off, it takes into account its body position at the time it first sees the threat. When it first notices an approaching threat, a fly's body might be in any sort of posture, depending on what it was doing at the time, like grooming, feeding, walking, or courting", he says.

Wonderful, right?

And the useful bit you was looking for?

Here it comes.

The right approach when you are swatting at the flies, is to aim not at the insects themselves because they are extraordinarily good at anticipating where exactly your blow will land. “It is best to aim a bit forward of the fly's starting position, to anticipate where it is going to jump when it first sees your swatter,” says Michael Dickinson. He should know.

So, the next time you go to a Government Office, don't be surprised if you find very few

flies buzzing about. Those guys  might have learnt to swat their flies scientifically.