If a gust of wind strikes a fruit fly in midair, it doesn’t tumble to the ground; it speedily adjusts and moves on like nothing happened. Scientists interested in how the tiny insects manage to stay airborne during such events glued magnets to the backs of the little guys and applied a magnetic pulse to throw them off for a split second in flight. Cameras recording their reaction at 8000 frames per second helped the researchers analyze and reconstruct their behavior afterward, The New York Times reports. They found that their halteres, organs that help maintain orientation by communicating with neurons near the wings, are responsible for keeping them in the air. The scientists believe the neurons do the equivalent of a math problem, figuring out speed, distance, change in direction, and how to properly respond.
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