Fruit Flies and Biting Midges

Ever wonder how flies walk on walls without falling into your soup? That's the question scientists studying adhesives ponder. In this text, Paul looks at the spiritual zygology of the church. What holds us together?

[NOTE: For this sermon idea, you will need a plate broken in two pieces, a jar of honey and a strong epoxy glue like Krazy Glue.]

Diptera muscidae.

In other words, the common housefly. The ubiquitous insect that can spread diseases and contaminate food.

Over 700 varieties of diptera exist - horseflies, dump flies, dung flies, the Mediterranean and Oriental fruit flies, sand flies, cluster flies, robber flies, stiletto flies, flesh flies and the biting midges - to name a few.

They don't live long, typically, about 20 days in the adult stage. Adults of many species bite or passively vector pathogens for diseases such as typhoid fever, dysentery, anthrax and African sleeping sickness.

But that's not why scientists at the Marine Science Laboratory in North Wales are studying them. Flies do something else besides mate, contaminate food and irritate us.

They walk on walls and ceilings. These scientists would like to know why and how they do that. What keeps them on the ceiling defying...