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As a child, hanging out by the community pool in the summers, I learned the following trick: If you can trap and drown a fly, you can then cover the dead fly w
by teh_infallible 7y ago
As a child, hanging out by the community pool in the summers, I learned the following trick:
If you can trap and drown a fly, you can then cover the dead fly with salt, which will suck the water out of the fly, and bring the “resurrected” fly back to life.
The relevance here: it is surprisingly difficult to drown a fly, because the weird hairs around their bodies create an air bubble around them, which protects them. A fly in a bubble of air can survive for at least 20 minutes underwater. Released, they will float to the surface inside this bubble and fly away.
Don’t ask how I know.
- maxden 7y agoSimilar to funnel web spiders. You have to be careful removing 'dead' ones from a pool as they can survive over 24 hours underwater. https://australianmuseum.net.au/learn/animals/spiders/funnel-web-spiders-group/ https://australianmuseum.net.au/learn/animals/spiders/funnel...
- tobr 7y agoThere’s a simpler way to resurrect a seemingly dead fly, sometimes used as a magic trick. Put a live fly in the freezer. When it is cold enough it starts to hibernate and will appear to be dead. Just holding it in the palm of your hand gives it enough heat to warm up and come to life again. Can’t say I condone this, it seems rather cruel.
- namanyayg 7y agoCruel? The fly didn't even realize what happened and forgot as soon as it left your palm.
- RankingMember 7y agoI feel like the "if they don't know what happened it's ok" perspective is a bit of a low bar ethically.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- namanyayg 7y agoNot just know, have no comprehension of understanding. It's doubtful it registers as pain to them. I was playing devil's advocate for a bit, there are much crueler things one can imagine. Freezing and unfreezing like this has been the dream in much of sci fi. And it doesn't cause any harm or difference at the end?