"The Power of Light" in National Geographic Magazine
Photo Gallery: Best Science Photographs of 2005 Named
Tiny Flying Robots Modeled on Insects
March 28, 2006—Pampering pets with designer goods isn't so unusual—and now even your houseflies can get outfitted in style.
An entry in a German science-photo competition, this image shows a fly sporting a set of "designer" lenses crafted and set in place with a cutting-edge laser technique. The glasses fit snuggly on the fly's 0.08-inch-wide (2-millimeter-wide) head.
Manufacturing firm Micreon GmbH submitted the insect's picture for the Bilder der Forschung (Photos of Science) 2005 competition. Selected images were on display last week in a Munich shopping center.
Micreon, based in Hannover, Germany (see map), created the fly's eyewear using ultrafast laser micro-machining. The firm notes on its Web site that the process can create objects with high precision at scales of less than a thousandth of a millimeter.
This sort of thing brings many questions to mind.
1. What were the creators of flyglasses smoking?
2. How do they know the fly lacked 20/20 vision?
3. Exactly how many of the fly's eyes now have corrected vision?
4. How the hell did they get the fly to sit still long enough to put the glasses on it?
5. Couldn't they come up with anything more stylish? Personally, I like the frameless style better.
6. Do fly nerds wear taped glasses?
7. Or heck, why not go for fly contact lenses? Well, ok, contacts could be a problem, what with the filth factor and the sheer number of fly eyes.
8. Can you imagine the contact lens case the fly would need?
9. Ok,they said it is a photography contest. Have these poor geeky guys become such social misfits that they need to take pictures of flies in glasses? Ya know, certain things could really make you see the merits of porn, which leads me to ask...
10. Would they put tape over the eyes of the flies in porn?
11. How would they get the fly to sit still?
Ok, my head hurts now. Happy Monday!
15 comments:
If the fly had amblyopia, how many little tiny fly eye patches would it take to correct the vision of the weaker eye?
Imagine the size of the eye chart for the fly eye exam!
Do men make passes at flies who wear glasses?
..."you're my, brown eyed fly...."
ok, i'll stop now...that was hilarious!
Oh my,
ya know...
um,
maybe...
uh,
Yeah, I can't think of a single excuse for them.
(stands clear)
Mock away, that is taking geeky weirdness to a totally new low.
WTF?? What the heck does a friggin fly need glasses for in the first place . I am like you , what were they smoking when this idea was created ? There are some seriously messed up people in this world. Have a good day !
LOL!!
Um... aren't flies only alive for 24 ish hours??? I really don't think eyewear is what's on their mind.
It's basically, born, fly, eat, fly, mate, fly, have baby flies, fly, die. Right???
what some people will do to entertain themselves...
*grin* ourselves included ;)
Some intresting questions indeed!!
Lime have a great Monday!
eek, my sides hurt from laughing!!!!
LMAO @ Snav's comment! Cause, ya know, if you were a fly.. you'd only think about FLYing, riiight?
Have a great Monday, Lime.
That is freaky looking.
Hey, this post is the bee's knees and the fly's eyes.
I would add one more question to your list...How much money did they waste on this amazing but useless technology while we still are trying to cure cancer? Just wondering...
Hey! Where'd my comment go? hmmm...stupid blogger has a new glitch.
Anyhoo, thanks for the laughs.
People, this is what Photoshop was invented for!
Seriously, though, micromachining can be used for sures for illness, so I'm glad they are working out the bugs.
'k, gotta fly!
Giggling at most of the comments, but I love: " Exactly how many of the fly's eyes now have corrected vision?"
I wonder if the fly has a pocket protector as well?
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