http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94110463

Bioengineering researcher Michael Dickinson used superslow-motion video cameras to study how flies are so effective at avoiding swatters. He found that flies perform an elegant ballet with their legs — responding to threats in less than 1/10 of a second.

"When you see a fly flitting around your hair, or your potato salad, you might see an annoyance," he says. "But in my lab you really see a marvelous machine, arguably the most sophisticated flying device on the planet."