Does a fly have a brain?

The brain - definition

• In vertebrates, the brain is part of the central nervous system. The second part is the spinal cord. It mainly consists of nerve tissue.
• The brain receives stimuli such as B. Pain and sends commands to the periphery of the body (ex. B. Arms, legs). This stimulus-response scheme is a decisive factor for the higher level of development of vertebrates.
• In these animals, too, and of course in humans, the brain is the least researched organ. It stores memories and experiences and thus makes up part of every individual character. Without the brain you would neither be able to read this text nor take part in everyday life independently.
• Strictly speaking, it is therefore wrong to speak of a brain in the case of the fly, because it is not a vertebrate. However, the function corresponds to a human brain, even if things like "learning", remembering or storing experiences of the fly are not possible in this form.
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What the fly has in common with a computer

• Flies process visual stimuli within fractions of a second. This is because the transmission of stimuli in the central switching center takes place in fractions of a second. Not much is known about this transmission of stimuli and, above all, the response to the body parts.


Synapse - function simply explained

For biology class or university, you need to know what the function of a ...

• There are several million nerve cells in the fly skull. Each of these is linked multiple times with its neighboring cells. That explains what makes it so difficult to decipher which area is responsible for which process. Research has already made great strides on this point.
• The fly's switching center is the only "system" able to process and react to all stimuli in real time. Not even a computer can do that! This also explains why science is so interested in it. Should it ever be deciphered how such a complex system works - especially in such a small space - the entire ITbusiness revolutionize.