Flies
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Flies are insects that both produce a noise and have a flight pattern that are extremely irritating to human beings, in the same way as a baby's cry. It is not known why this is so, nor what survival value it has. In fact, these characteristics produce the opposite effect, and often result in the offending fly being chased with a rolled-up newspaper. It is often noticed that when chasing a fly in this manner, the fly seems to disappear periodically, and re-appear seconds later in the same place, while the hunter has moved off elsewhere. What the fly has actually done is to travel in time. It simply moves forward a few seconds, in the knowledge that its pursuer will assume he or she has lost sight of it and will wander off looking for it. This is the actual origination of the often misinterpreted phrase, "time flies".
This article is completely true, except for the time-travel bit.
This article is completely true, except for the time-travel bit.
