Thursday, July 23, 2026
Science

Fruit flies turn fleeting scent puffs into directional memories, study finds

When a fruit fly catches a whiff of a ripe peach, it quickly heads toward it. Time after time, it finds the fruit—even from many feet away and even if the scent arrives only as a few drifting, disconnected puffs. How do they home in with such unerring accuracy?

Fruit flies turn fleeting scent puffs into directional memories, study finds
Image: Phys.org
When a fruit fly catches a whiff of a ripe peach, it quickly heads toward it. Time after time, it finds the fruit—even from many feet away and even if the scent arrives only as a few drifting, disconnected puffs. How do they home in with such unerring accuracy?

Originally published at Phys.org

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