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

By Will Hawkes, Insect Migration Researcher, College of Life and Environmental Science, University of Exeter

As I sprinted across the flower-rich meadow on the eastern coast of Cyprus, I could barely see my car. The air was full of tiny black dots, pelting like bullets past me. I hauled open the car door and breathed a sigh of relief once inside. I was surrounded by millions of flies, amid the most incredible migration event I have ever seen.

The migration cameras my team and I use to monitor these insects counted nearly 6,000 flies per metre per minute. Being hit by a fly travelling over 25mph (helped by the wind) hurts enough to make you want shelter quickly.

All of these flies…

Read complete article

~	Sudan crisis: UN rights chief condemns extrajudicial killings in Khartoum

~	AI’s bitter truth: It has biases, too

~	Kenya: Meta can be sued in Kenya for role in Ethiopia conflict

~	COVID modelling reveals new insights into ancient social distancing – podcast

~	Imagining what the world could look like without fossil fuels spurs people to action

~	Vitamin D builds your bones and keeps your gut sealed, among many other essential functions − but many children are deficient

~	From business exports to veteran care − here’s what some of the 35,000 federal workers in the Philadelphia region do

~	Lowering the cost of insurance in Colorado – a new analysis of the Peak Health Alliance

~	Medicare Advantage is covering more and more Americans − some because they don’t get to choose

~	Susan Monarez, Trump’s nominee for CDC director, faces an unprecedented and tumultuous era at the agency