Insect virtual reality gives us a fly's perspective of the world

Flying insects are remarkable in their ability to sense and locate food sources and mates as they navigate a complex, 3-D world. Yet, little is known about how they combine different sensory stimuli to find and get to the objects of their interest. Now, researchers from Shannon Olsson's lab at the National Center for Biological Sciences, Bangalore created a virtual reality (VR) arena in which they can observe the behavior of tethered flies.