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2026-05-10 19:12:10 UTC
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Mark McCaughrean on Nostr: For the discovery that bubble blowing helps with fly thermoregulation, see Gomes+18 ...

For the discovery that bubble blowing helps with fly thermoregulation, see Gomes+18 who used thermal-IR imaging to observe blowflies doing it.

Droplets cool by up to 8°C below ambient in just 15 secs under some conditions, & when re-ingested, lowering the temperature of the head, thorax, & abdomen by 1, 0.5, & 0.2°C, respectively.

The fly repeatedly blow bubbles, to cool further, only losing a little at a time.

Lots of other interesting details in the paper too 👍

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-23670-2