• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Fly Maneuvers

Fly Maneuvers

April 14, 2014
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/140414_sciup_fly.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):

Evasive fly maneuvers. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

To a fly, the blink of an eye must seem as slow as a garage door opening and closing. University of Washington neurobiologist Michael Dickinson and his team report in the journal Science that fruit flies avoiding threats can zig and zag thirty times in one human blink. And he says they use the same technique fighter pilots do.

Michael Dickinson (University of Washington):

They roll and pitch the whole body, sometimes flying almost upside down, and that changes their direction of motion very, very quickly, just as a banked turn does in a helicopter or an airplane.

HIRSHON:

Dickinson wants to know how their tiny brains and muscles can respond so quickly and precisely. While the work is basic research, the findings could inform efforts to build tiny autonomous flying robots. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

To hear more from Dr. Dickinson about fruitflies and their aerial acrobatics, check out this Science Podcast:

You can also see a fruitfly in action!

A fruit fly, Drosophila hydei, flaps its wings 200 times a second during normal flight and even faster when taking evasive action. Credit: F. Muijres and F. van Breugel, University of Washington
A fruit fly, Drosophila hydei, flaps its wings 200 times a second during normal flight and even faster when taking evasive action.
Credit: F. Muijres and F. van Breugel, University of Washington
Category: Daily Show, Station DownloadTag: Animal Behavior, Engineering & Technology
Previous Post:Phylochip
Next Post:Glucose & Aggression

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Cat Video
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • NASA
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Image of computer screen depicting an orange cat with a variety of alphanumeric scientific data superimposed on the the screen.
Spotted skunk performing handstand to threaten predators

Copyright © 2025 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos