How fruit flies track the edge of odour plumes

TL;DR - Virtual-reality experiments show that fruit flies use spatial-memory mechanisms to track an odour plume’s edge toward its source, revealing navigational strategies shared with ants and bees.

• Drosophila followed simulated odour plumes in virtual reality.
• The flies tracked plume boundaries rather than merely responding to odour presence.
• Their behavior involved components of a memory-guided navigation toolkit.
• The findings connect plume tracking with spatial-memory systems used to reach fixed locations.