Using high-resolution, high-speed digital imaging of fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) faced with a looming swatter, Dickinson and graduate student ... read more
Fruit flies have extremely fast reflexes and extraordinary maneuverability We discovered that fruit flies alter course in less than one one-hundredth of a second, 50 times faster than we blink our eyes, and which is faster than we ever imagined. read more
My guess is that a suppressor of that mutation, or maybe reversion (depending on your mutation) arose and those suppressed/revertant flies gradually took over the population, for the same reason that Drosophila evolved red eyes in the first place. read more
Fruit flies are built to find fermenting fruit. Through small, they can detect the smell of ripe fruits and vegetables from a good distance away. If there's a bowl of fruit on your kitchen counter, there's probably a fruit fly or two looking for a way into your home to get to it. read more