TO KILL A FLY.

I’m feeling a bit burnt out on politics this morning, and so have instead fixated on this article. Turns out it’s very hard to kill a fly. “At the mere hint of a threat, the insects adjust their preflight stance to flee in the opposite direction, ensuring a clean getaway.” All this happens within 200 milliseconds, which is rather less time than it takes a lumbering humor to bring down a flyswatter. How do we know all this? “Dickinson’s team studied this process in fruit flies using high-speed digital imaging equipment and a fancy fly swatter.” Gotta love it: Hundreds of thousands of dollars probably went into developing a better strategy for murdering harmless bugs. But in case youre interested, Dickinson’s recommendation is simple: Aim for the escape route.