Fly Reaction Time Test

In 1950, researchers measured a fly's reaction time after removing its platform, finding it took about 21 ms—over 12 times faster than humans. This weekend, I tested a similar setup with colleagues Toni Lucatorto and Kamil Paszkiewicz, using a crossbow arrow to remove a stage from an orange. The fly responded after nearly 50 frames at 6000 fps, about 8.3 ms.