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Fruit flies flee from shadows

Faux predators instigate fearlike response suggestive of human emotion

fruit fly

BUZZ KILL  An overhead shadow can scatter fruit flies (one shown), a response that may eventually help scientists understand complex emotions in people. 

Mr.checker/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

By Laura Sanders

- More than 2 years ago

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The shadow of a predator overhead sends fruit flies into a tizzy. In response to an aerial threat, flies exhibit behaviors that echo the human state of fear, scientists report in the June 1 Current Biology.