Et constitui super Hos dudum de cogitatus – speculum lucis bulbi quae uelut usus honestus ad fugandos volatus. Quod ledo ius nervi meo skeptical, and I discussed it in my previous post. Praeteritis hebdomadibus rationabiles methodos investigandi hanc peticionem probavi – and like much of my research – I procrastinate and end up watching TV. But every once in a while it pays off; and to my amazement I stumbled upon the Mythbusters and their Bug Special (Season 8, episode 26). One of their mini-myths was exactly this – that bags of water can scare away flies! The test was designed pretty well, however the concept as to why it would have worked is flawed. As I discussed in my previous post, flies would and should be able to handle refracted and reflected light. In “invisible wall” theory did not hold up as you can imagine and the bag of water did zero to repel flies – and it might have actually attracted a few who were looking for a droplet or two of moisture around the edges. I am still left wondering if the motion of scattered light would have any effect on fly behavior (however unlikely). Looks like I missed my opportunity for a Mythbusters consult!
