In-fly movie: 3D video from inside live flying insects

The flight muscles moving inside flies have been filmed for the first time using a new 3D X-ray scanning technique. 3D movies of the muscles were created by a team from Oxford University, Imperial College London, and the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), using the PSI's Swiss Light Source, a powerful X-ray source. The movies offer a glimpse into the inner workings of one of nature's most complex mechanisms, the blowfly's flight motor, and could inspire new designs of micro air vehicle and other micromechanisms. A report of this research, including the 3D movies, is published in this week's PLOS Biology . In the time that it takes a human to blink, a blowfly [ Calliphora vicina ] can beat its wings 50 times, controlling each wingbeat using numerous tiny steering muscles - some as thin as a human hair. The membranous wings contain no muscles, so all of the flight muscles are hidden out of sight within the thorax. 'The thoracic tissues block visible light, but can be penetrated by X-rays,' said Dr Rajmund Mokso from the PSI.