What really moves Dickinson is the insects' flying proficiency. The first organisms to evolve flight, insects still represent the most sophisticated aerial machine on the planet, he says. Flies, in particular, have unique specializations that lead to extraordinary behaviors: they can take off backwards, fly sideways, and land upside down. These singular behaviors, Dickinson says, "push the envelope of useful design, presenting a clearer picture of the structure/function of relationships than do more mundane behaviors."
But understanding insect flight requires more than studying the nervous system, Dickinson told neuroscientists at their annual meeting last November. "From the mechanics of the muscle, to the biomechanics of the skeleton, and the aerodynamics of the wing, [all this] is important for understanding what was originally a neurobiological question," he said.
Dickinson is homing in on a particular behavior called the saccade, a term stolen from human physiology, to describe rapid eye movements that ...
