fruit flies

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  • Mad scientists figure out how to write memories to brains, take over Earth

    by 
    Darren Murph
    Darren Murph
    10.17.2009

    Call us crazy, but we're guessing one Gero Miesenböck of the University of Oxford has been watching just a wee bit too much Fringe. Gero here, along with a few of his over-anxious colleagues, has seemingly figured out a way to actually write memories onto a fruit fly's brain using only a laser pen and three-fourths of a Ouija board. We know what you're thinking, and we're thinking the same. But all terrifying thoughts aside, what if boffins could burn memories of hard lessons learned into our minds without us having to suffer through them first? You know, like upgrading to Snow Leopard.

  • Scandinavian artist merges cellphones and fruit flies, world wonders why

    by 
    Cyrus Farivar
    Cyrus Farivar
    11.26.2006

    We know that Scandinavians have a reputation for high-tech and ultra-liberal attitudes, but this one may be a bit over the top. Laura Beloff, an artist who seems to have a penchant for her cellphone and for fruit flies, has built what she calls "The Fruit Fly Farm" -- a wearable sculpture involving a transparent acrylic ball that contains a bunch of fruit flies munching away on a piece of rotting fruit. A cellphone is positioned so that its camera can take a picture of the swarm in action upon receiving a text message from the public; the snapshot is then uploaded to a website for posterity and is also sent back to the sender as a reply. If you want to get your own shot of these amazingly boring insects, you've got until November 30 to text +47 92096767 (Norway), after which time the shirtless dude walking around in the Norwegian winter wants to get some clothes on.[Via Textually]