How fruit flies chase invisible ribbons of smell to get to their source
Neuroscientists at Rockefeller University are studying how fruit flies navigate turbulent air to track odor plumes. The research challenges the traditional 'surge and cast' model, suggesting flies use more complex cognitive processes to locate sources.
Why it matters
Advances our understanding of biological navigation and sensory processing, which has implications for robotics and artificial intelligence.
Is that the smell of success? How fruit flies chase invisible ribbons of smell to get to their source Tracking smells in turbulent air takes a keen sense of direction and sharp memory.
1 Credit: Joao Paulo Burini Credit: Joao Paulo Burini Text settings Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only Learn more Minimize to nav A fruit fly hunting a piece of rotting fruit or a mate navigates by smell, following plumes of odor. Out in the wild, turbulent air swirls these plumes into a chaotic, broken landscape—dense chemical filaments laced through long stretches of clean air. A fly trying to find the source gets the smell in stutters, from constantly shifting directions, with no guarantee that a next whiff is coming at all.
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