A flesh-eating fly is spreading north to the US. It could devastate livestock farming if not controlled

The screwworm reached Mexico in November 2024, after moving upwards through Central America.

Livio Martins Costa Junior, Professor of Parasitology • conversation
June 16, 2025 ~6 min

Flies are masters of migration – it’s about time they got some credit

Flies are the most ecologically diverse and important migrant group. We just had no idea.

Will Hawkes, Insect Migration Researcher, College of Life and Environmental Science, University of Exeter • conversation
April 2, 2025 ~6 min


I surveyed 17 million insects flying through a Pyrenean mountain pass – here’s what I learned about these ‘remarkable migrants’

Researchers have been estimating the vast numbers of insects, including many pollinators, migrating at one location in the Pyrenees. But climate change and habitat loss could affect their abundance.

Will Hawkes, Insect Migration Researcher, DEPT, University of Exeter • conversation
June 11, 2024 ~8 min

Robber flies track their beetle prey using tiny microbursts of movement

Not much is known about the predator fly Laphria saffrana. New research identified how they count the wingbeats of their favored prey, letting it slip out of focus before adjusting their heads.

Siddhant Pusdekar, Graduate Researcher in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota • conversation
March 5, 2024 ~7 min

How do flies find every stinky garbage dumpster? A biologist explains their sensory superpower

Flies often beat out competitors for food because of their specialized sensing organs called antennae.

Christine Picard, Associate Professor of Biology, Indiana University • conversation
Sept. 4, 2023 ~6 min

Biting flies are attracted to blue traps – we used AI to work out why

New research on what attracts blood-feasting flies to blue objects could help minimise the impacts of those insects on people and animals.

Roger Santer, Lecturer in Zoology, Aberystwyth University • conversation
July 4, 2023 ~6 min

Flies evade your swatting thanks to sophisticated vision and neural shortcuts

Why is it so difficult to swat a fly? A team of insect experts explains how a fly’s sophisticated vision allows it to quickly react to visual cues.

Ravindra Palavalli-Nettimi, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Florida International University • conversation
Aug. 17, 2022 ~8 min

Do flies really throw up on your food when they land on it?

A fly does some of its digesting outside its body before it even eats any food.

Jamie Theobald, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, Florida International University • conversation
Nov. 8, 2021 ~6 min


Why do flowers smell?

Not all flowers smell good, to people at least, but their scents are a way to attract pollinators.

Richard L. Harkess, Professor of Floriculture and Ornamental Horticulture, Mississippi State University • conversation
March 1, 2021 ~5 min

Tiny cacao flowers and fickle midges are part of a pollination puzzle that limits chocolate production

Entomologists wonder if the insects currently pollinating farmed cacao are the right ones for the task.

DeWayne Shoemaker, Professor and Department Head, Entomology and Plant Pathology, University of Tennessee • conversation
Feb. 10, 2021 ~6 min

/

2