Fruit Flies are Better at Calculus than You

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in science on (#3GM)
Some researchers at Cornell University have been studying the way fruit flies respond to gusty winds. They've found that the wing neurons are able to react without input from the brain to more quickly respond to changing wind conditions. Reported by the New York Times : "Whatever the fly neurons are doing, they have the right stuff. The wings of fruit flies beat about 250 times a second. Disturb a fly's flight in an extreme way, Dr. Cohen said, and 'within three wing beats that sucker has recovered completely.'"

The research papers can be found here and here .

Re: where is intelligence located (Score: 3, Interesting)

by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2014-03-21 09:21 (#QR)

There's the famous muscle memory as well, not exactly an issue of intelligence, but habitual movement of certain muscle groups when certain neurons fire. 250 beats per second is pretty impressive, and being able to correct in 3 beats is also impressive. But somehow it's not surprising - if you're a fruitfly, remaining airborne seems like it should be what you focus most of your mental energy on.
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