Do Not Shave a Fruit Fly's Eyes

From a distance, insects can appear smooth and sleek, but get close enough and hundreds of tiny bristles called setae come into focus. Suddenly what once seemed smooth now resembles a porcupine terror. (Clip of a fruit fly cleaning itself slowed by 33x. Credit: Guillermo Amador at Georgia Institute of Technology.) For certain insect species, setae cover many parts of the body including the legs and eyes. The tiny hairs contain nerves that signal to the insect when dust, pollen, mold or other par...