Think before you SWAT!
Focusing on fruit flies, Curiosity takes a flight!
Thinking of the title the first thing that comes to one's mind after seeing the word "Swat" is an Insect or a fly or a bee.
Yes I'm talking about a fly called Drosophila. They seem to appear like alien creatures!
A lot of experiments have been performed on the flies because there is 75% similarity in genes between Humans and Drosophila.
Besides genetic experiments , scientists also study their flying pattern and aerodynamics.
One such great scientist is Dr. Michael Dickinson. He is an American fly Bioengineer and Neuroscientist and Zarem Professor of Biology and Bioengineering at the California Institute of Technology.
He studies Drosophila flight control systems and sensory processing.
Dr.Michael Dickinson says-
In his recent talk at IISER Pune on the occasion of K.S Krishnan Memorial Lecture In Neuroscience (21 June 2019), he spoke about the various experiments being conducted at his lab.
I would like to mention some key points of the talk
Yes I'm talking about a fly called Drosophila. They seem to appear like alien creatures!
A lot of experiments have been performed on the flies because there is 75% similarity in genes between Humans and Drosophila.
One such great scientist is Dr. Michael Dickinson. He is an American fly Bioengineer and Neuroscientist and Zarem Professor of Biology and Bioengineering at the California Institute of Technology.
He studies Drosophila flight control systems and sensory processing.
Dr.Michael Dickinson says-
“I don’t think they’re a simple model of anything, If flies are a great model, they’re a great model for flies."
“These animals, you know, they’re not like us, We don’t fly. We don’t have a compound eye. I don’t think we process sensory information the same way. The muscles that they use are just incredibly much more sophisticated and interesting than the muscles we use."
“These animals, you know, they’re not like us, We don’t fly. We don’t have a compound eye. I don’t think we process sensory information the same way. The muscles that they use are just incredibly much more sophisticated and interesting than the muscles we use."
In his recent talk at IISER Pune on the occasion of K.S Krishnan Memorial Lecture In Neuroscience (21 June 2019), he spoke about the various experiments being conducted at his lab.
I would like to mention some key points of the talk
- Flies use sunlight as their navigation source and move in a straight direction but due to polarization there a little change in angle, this is called as Solar Menotaxis. An article related to Solar Menotaxis can be found here: https://jeb.biologists.org/content/221/9/jeb177550 and https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdfExtended/S0960-9822(18)30901-1
- Halteres are altered hindwings that act not only as Gyroscope (device used to maintain orientation) but also Mechanosensors.
- There is a Central complex present in the flies brain that acts as a compass and helps in orientation. E-PG neuron is present in the complex.
- There are a total 13,500 neurons present in the flies.
- Optogenetic simulation process was used to understand the flying pattern. Optogenetic means use of light to control living cells.
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| L to R: Drosophila in action, Drosophila wing model, Coyote lake project work |
More information about the work can be found on their lab page.
https://dickinsonlab.caltech.edu/
TED Talk by Dr. Michael Dickinson- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEfe1hYCshg
TED Talk by Dr. Michael Dickinson- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEfe1hYCshg
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