Fruit Fly in Flight

A fruit fly tethered to a fine steel wire demonstrates the large stroke amplitude and high stroke frequency typical of small insects. Conventional aerodynamic theory fails to explain how insects generate enough force to remain airborne. Studies in the Department of Integrative Biology in the laboratory of Michael Dickinson using both real flies and giant robotic models have begun to uncover the unsteady mechanisms that insects use to fly and maneuver.

Photo submitted by Michael Dickinson