Superfly is a fly's eye view of 100 years of genetics. Drosophila melanogaster - the common fruit fly - might look insignificant but over the last century it has been used to unlock the secrets of life. 60% of our genes are the same as the fly's.
Using specialist photography and 3D animation computer graphics Superfly takes you on a journey through the fly's world. Along the way we meet gay, drunk and violent flies as well as mutants high on crack cocaine.
The fruit fly's century
1900s: Thomas Hunt Morgan - the pioneer of fly experimentation - noticing that their rapid breeding rate would be an asset to studying genetics.
1910s: Morgan's most remarkable work is done during his tenure at Columbia University, New York.
1920s: Morgan's students Calvin Bridges and Herman Mullergain gain prominence, especially after Muller made the link between x-rays and genetic mutation.
1930s: Evolutionary biology is born as Thedosious Dobzhansky demonstrates the evolutionary changes occurring in fruit flies over a few generations.
1940s: Ed Lewis shoots to fame in 1946 after he discovers - courtesy of his mutant fly strain Biothorax - the Master Gene and its role in the architecture of cell organisation.
1950s: A lean decade for scientists in fly research although flies reach the sliver screen in 1958 with the release of B-movie The Fly.
1960s: Scientific interest in flies rebounds with research into female fly longevity. The more a female fly reproduced, the shorter its life expectancy became. But why? Either flies exchanged a long life for many children or reproduction took a physical toll on flies.
1970s: As developmental biology becomes more sophisticated, scientists need a creature with a greater degree of complexity to study - one they can manipulate, mutate and watch reproduce to their heart's content. Thousands of generations of fruit fly later, Drosophlia makes its comeback.
1980s: Scientists at University College London became interested in the old question of mother-fly longevity. Via the castrometer - a clever device used to castrate anaesthetised male flies, they discovered that it was actually fly semen that was responsible for the reduction of female longevity. The mystery was solved.
1990s - present: American Tim Tully creates the Super Fly. He is the world's expert on fly genes and their impact upon behaviour and has become increasingly adept at manipulating the brain power of the common fruit fly.
