Flies possess more sophisticated cognitive abilities than previously known

&gt; To arrive at the heart of their new findings the researchers created an immersive virtual reality environment to test the fly’s behavior via visual stimulation and coupled the displayed imagery with an infra-red laser as an averse heat stimulus. The near 360-degree panoramic arena allowed Drosophila to flap their wings freely while remaining tethered, and with the virtual reality constantly updating based on their wing movement (analyzed in real-time using high-speed machine-vision cameras) it gave the flies the illusion of flying freely in the world. This gave researchers the ability to train and test flies for conditioning tasks by allowing the insect to orient away from an image associated with the negative heat stimulus and towards a second image not associated with heat.<p>That&#x27;s wild!

This honestly feels like a landmark study.<p>Both in terms of the jaw-dropping technical setup (full VR rig AND real-time brain imaging for untethered flies), and the results (proof of otherwise unknowable cognitive abilities) with interesting philosophical implications about the differentiation we humans perform when categorizing animals (for example, is killing a fly morally different than killing a horse&#x2F;cow?)

I wish they were as smart as wasps and could figure out the difference between an open and a closed window.

Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like banana!

I ... I just don&#x27;t know.<p>We put a fly into virtual reality. A fly.<p>Can we appreciate the fact that humanity has come to a point where dystopian shit like this has become the norm? Oh but of course we can! We do!<p>But should we really? I mean, come on. This is nuts. There&#x27;s already farmers putting VR goggles onto cows. Because they give better milk. It&#x27;s progress alright, but it&#x27;s <i>nuts</i>.<p>Completely <i>bonkers</i>, if you ask my british personality fragment. It really isn&#x27;t that far from putting VR onto everything and everyone simply because people have stopped appreciating actual reality, with actual nature.<p>A fly!<p>In virtual reality!<p>It&#x27;s unironically amazing!<p>We&#x27;re fucked. Seriously. lol

In the end, it will turn out that every single living being has some level of consciousness, and self-awareness...