Imagine that you are a fruit fly looking for overripe food on its way to the next feast. Suddenly, out of nowhere, you are engulfed in indigo light. You immediately forget about the fruit, and at the same time, in order to spoil them with your presence, you start dancing. You, of course, are not a small insect and you have not been abducted by aliens. But a device that will make fruit flies dance as if hypnotized has been invented. Dr. Andrew Straw did it to the delight of farmers, summer residents, fruit sellers and all of humanity..
Together with colleagues at the Institute for Molecular Pathology in Vienna and a visiting team from the United States, Dr. Straw developed a laser-based system that monitors the consciousness of fruit flies. The device was named FlyMAD, which literally translates to «crazy fly», although the acronym stands for «Fly Mind Changing Device.» The system uses video cameras that track the movement of several flies in a confined space. By firing lasers specially tuned to them, researchers can generate heat and light that bind to nerves in each fly’s brain..
In the future, Dr. Straw hopes to have a more serious influence on flies, although fortunately his equipment will not work on more complex life forms, such as humans. Fruit flies are good candidates for control due to their ability to control their light, and the flies involved in the experiment have been genetically altered..
Technology can help save a home from fruit flies, which is great since getting rid of fruit flies can be difficult at times, especially in holiday homes. It is very difficult to say when such devices come to the aid of summer residents, since the technology is still at the stage of laboratory development. But who knows, maybe special systems will soon appear that will quickly and without any chemicals rid our homes of any form of insects. Imagine a world where you don’t have to hang mosquito nets on windows and protect doors with insect screens? Great, isn’t it? This is a good little dream that Proektstroy shares with you on the eve of summer.
