Study: Flies Confuse Blue Objects for Food

Facts

• According to a study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society Journal Wednesday, biting flies are attracted to blue objects because they resemble animal hosts.¹
• Conducted by the Department of Life Sciences at the UK’s Aberystwyth University, the study intended to examine why biting flies are attracted to the color blue, which has led to the development of traps in that particular hue.²
• Lead researcher Dr. Robert Santer explained that while the entomological field has established the flies’ attraction to the color, scientists had previously been unable to conclude whether blue reminded flies of shady areas or animals.³
• The Aberystwyth team used a form of machine learning inspired by real nervous systems, called neural networks, to study the flies’ visual processing and trained it to distinguish between leaf and animal backgrounds, finding that blue doesn’t correlate with shady areas.⁴
• Instead, flies likely mistake the color for animals, which is why blue fly traps are most effective at attracting the insects. Santer argues that, by understanding the mechanisms that attract flies to blue objects, the color and efficiency of the traps can be improved.⁵
• Additionally, Santer said the study is crucial to public health, as it allows for the development of better traps for the different species of biting flies, thereby reducing the spread of diseases.⁶

Sources: ¹Al Jazeera, ²Archive, ³WION, ⁴Guardian, ⁵Nation.Cymru, and ⁶ThePrint.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by BBC News. Flies may seem like innocuous minuscule pests, but they can be extremely dangerous, carrying hundreds of kinds of bacteria. Flies have caused immense amounts of suffering worldwide, infecting humans and animals with life-threatening illnesses, including COVID. Studies such as this are crucial in keeping people safe.
• Narrative B, as provided by Modern Pest Control Inc. While certain flies can pose a threat to society by spreading diseases to humans and animals, most are relatively harmless and the rate at which they spread disease is dependent on the environment they're in. Urban areas increase the rate of pathogens flies spread, so urbanites should take simple steps to reduce risk. Flies are fascinating creatures that are useful to the wider ecosystem.