“O humankind! A parable is struck, so pay heed to it: Those whom, apart from God, you deify and invoke will never be able to create even a fly, even if all of them were to come together to do so...” (all-Hajj 22:73).

When we look at the living world with a contemplative eye and love of knowledge, we can see the presence of remarkable talents different species manifest in their own way. Compared to many of our technological inventions produced by human mind and thousands of years of knowledge and research since the beginning of history, the living beings we see in nature are much more perfect, aesthetically, and ergonomically more useful, more abundant, and much cheaper.

To give a few examples: The design of a dolphin’s snout, which allows it to move easily in the water, is better than the design of the bows of the ships made by humans, which allow them to move freely in the water. The design of a seagull’s wing, which allows it to maneuver in the air, is better than the design of the wing of a fighter jet made by humans. How is it possible to think that a seagull wing came into being by chance, while no one thinks that an airplane wing came into being by chance or by itself?

Now let’s look at a fly, which is one of the millions of living species that exist in the world and which many of us dislike. Let’s consider whether the collective efforts of millions of conscious individuals on Earth could result in the creation of a fly.

In order for a fly to exist, to continue its existence, to protect itself, to feed itself, etc., it must be equipped with many unique qualities. For these qualities to exist, it is necessary to make choices with very sensitive calculations among many possibilities.

A fly flaps its wings an average of 250 times per second. This is not a circular motion, but a back and forth, like a piston. Chitin, which is used in the structure of the wings, is a specially selected, very light, flexible, and durable material. The joints that connect the wings to the body must also be designed very specially. The fact that a motionless fly can suddenly jump out of its place and make very sharp turns requires that its body have an anatomy suitable for such movements. The pistons employed in gasoline engines reciprocate in a back-and-forth motion. Despite the extensive efforts of thousands of engineers spanning over a century, these engines are limited to pistons oscillating at a rate of only 100 times per second. Does it make sense to credit the fly for all these skills?

The fly’s wing has a very special design that allows it to maneuver. The surface of the wing frame consists of chitin rods that provide the tension of the flexible wing and prevent it from wrinkling and bending; it is also covered with a flexible membrane. Unlike vertebrates, insects do not have red blood and vascular systems to carry it. Hemolymph fluid circulates through the cavities of the body. The tracheal tubules, which constitute the respiratory system, carry oxygen and carbon dioxide to all tissues that need it. The trachea network system, which was established for the regular delivery of nutrients to living cells and the collection of waste, is placed in all tissues in a way that can be prepared with very advanced mathematical equations, leaving no cell behind. Who made these optimizations? Did it occur on its own?

In order for its wings to be suitable for the environment in which the fly lives, it should not be affected by different climatic conditions, should not disperse in the rain, should not be worn out due to the acidity or basicity of the food taken by the fly as food, and should be of an ideal size according to the power of its heart. Well, the fly; does he know that his wing has these features?

When our homes are built, the plumbing is laid and the diameter of the pipes does not change, that is, the water pipes do not have the ability to expand or contract according to our needs. It remains the way it was done in the beginning. However, the tracheal tubes, which are spread like a net inside the fly, and the thinner tracheal tubes branching from them, are constantly changing according to the needs of the fly; they expand and shrink.

It is beyond comprehension how the sensitive chitin hairs on its skin transmit even the slightest breeze in the air to the brain; that its tiny five-chambered heart pumps body fluid from back to front at a terrific speed, and that its Malpighi’s tubes do the same job as our kidneys and clean nitrogenous substances produced as toxic waste from the same liquid. As the number of studies on the physiology, anatomy, and biochemistry of the fly increases, we continue to discover new things every day.

Another point to contemplate about the fly is that the material to be used in its construction should be ecofriendly. If the fly is going to live for a month, then the organic material to be used in it should break down very soon after it dies leaving no waste and pollution behind.

The excellent properties of the fly are too many to count. The feeding of a fly is a miracle in itself. It secretes digestive enzymes from its mouth to dissolve and break down the bacteria which it later absorbs; this explains the wisdom why flies are found around droppings.

The fly’s mechanical design, its self-defense mechanisms, how it procreates, the fact that it has hundreds of tools given to perceive its environment, its vision made possible with a few thousand eyes (ommatidium) like a bee comb, its metamorphosis and transformation into a maggot and then a fly, and its contributions to the environment – each uniquely feature that the fly requires a separate expertise.

As the sciences continue to develop day by day, we realize we can only understand a small part of existence. Despite the diligent efforts of countless scholars spanning centuries, the vast expanse of knowledge remains unattained to humanity, as God’s knowledge is infinite.

Saying that a fly could not exist if its wing was not flexible does not explain the fact that a fly’s wing is flexible. If a fly’s wing wasn’t flexible, then the fly would not exist in the first place. A design shows a designer behind it. An engineering work shows an engineer behind it. A quantity measured denotes someone does the measuring. What falls on mankind is to see all the amazing things around us and show our admiration to the Power behind them.

Athlete’s foot is a frequent infection that millions of people suffer from annually. I once had it during my military service where we had to wear boots almost an entire day. Once during a noon intercession, I performed my ablutions to pray and I placed my feet under the sunlight to dry them. I was also hoping that ultraviolet rays from the sun would be good for the infection. Soon, flies swarmed in between my toes. When I could not bear the excessive itching, I tried to kill the flies until I was stopped by a friend who reminded me of the great sage Bediuzzaman’s comments where he called flies “cleaning workers.” At that time, I also remembered Prophet Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) words on flies. So, I patiently endured the nuisance, and repeated the same procedure for the next three or four days. Eventually, my feet were healed and there was no trace of the fungi.

In one of his very interesting hadiths, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, is reported to have said the following about flies: “If a fly falls into your drink, dip it into your drink, then throw it away, for on one of its wings is a disease, and on the other is a cure. It dips the wing with the disease to protect itself” [1]. This hadith has been a reason for much controversy mainly due to germ disease theory.  According to Jonathan C. Brown, “even before modern medicine, the Hadith of the Fly was raising skeptical eyebrows and prompting Sunni defensiveness as early as the writings of Ibn Qutayba (d. 276/889)” [2]. Brown also mentions that this hadith “could be false or it could be true, since scientists used the flesh of a snake to help prepare antidotes to its poison” [3].

Before the microscope was invented it was impossible to define microbes or talk about the anatomy or microbiology of flies as we can today. However, the introduction of experimentation and observation as an important scientific method with the Renaissance served as a turning point in Western scientific revolution. Thus, the “proof-based medicine” conception that relies on experimentation and observation emerged as a precursor to today’s medicinal and scientific research. The importance of perceptions that rely on causes relating to the material world in persuading the human mind cannot be denied. It is harder to make people believe in something unless they are provided with concrete results that appeal to our five senses. We should not rush to deny any claim solely based upon our preconceptions and prior knowledge without doing any research about it; rather, we should pass our judgment on it after experimentation and observation.

Some people may automatically reject the idea that when a fly falls in our food or drink that we should immerse this microbe-carrying insect completely and they may say that this would not eliminate the microbes. Indeed, it may sound reasonable to assume that this disgusting insect that feeds on all sorts of dirt would cause only diseases. If you have an ample supply of food or water and if you do not have the stomach for it, you can of course refrain from eating or drinking such a food or drink. But, you can hardly advise someone who has very little water or food in a desert or at the time of famine to throw away what they have because of a fly.

We should examine different types of flies in laboratory settings using the method of experimentation and observation. First of all, it is very difficult to prove that someone can contract an illness from eating food in which a fly had fallen into although he or she had immersed that fly completely in that food. If it is proven that someone becomes ill due to a fly’s alighting in their food, then strong objections can be raised. If it is said that there many diseases caused by flies, no one will deny it. The point is not whether flies carry germs, but whether this advice for being protected from the germs carried by flies is correct or not. As a matter of fact, the advice by the Prophet seeks to protect us from diseases that may be caused by germs carried by flies. The great scholar Bediuzzaman’s words on flies also give us an alternative perspective to consider about these “tiny birds”:

“…Flies are dutiful about cleaning away noxious substances or germs that cause disease. By sucking up and absorbing harmful germs, they destroy them, and they cause noxious or poisonous substances to change into other harmless forms, thus preventing the spread of many contagious diseases. A sign that they are both laborers for health and cleansing operatives and chemists, serving many instances of wisdom, is the fact that they exist in extremely great numbers. For the things that are valuable and beneficial are multiplied.” [4]

The hadith of the Prophet and Bediuzzaman’s commentary encourage us to explore more about flies and whether they can be a source of healing in any way.

Flies are very ubiquitous on earth. There are approximately 125,000 species of flies, but only ten species live in our homes and are of concern to us. They feed on garbage and organic waste materials that act as a breeding ground for microbes such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses. The female fly lays down more than 100 eggs in the dung of some animals or in garbage. After one day, the larva emerges to feed on the surrounding organic materials. In two weeks, they become full-grown flies. In four generations, one female fly can lay 1.5 million eggs, but fortunately the majority die due to weather circumstances or become food for birds, reptiles, amphibians, and other insects. A fly can live for 60 days at most.

Given the ecological balance in nature, one comes to accept that there should be species that will remove all sorts of organic waste, garbage, dead animals or plants, and similar things by eating them. Houseflies feed on the rotting corpses of animals while female horseflies suck blood. How can flies, which act as health workers that are charged with the duty of cleaning the world, digest so many diverse amounts of garbage and waste?

Flies get their nourishment differently from other animals. What other animals do for digestion is done by flies outside their bodies. They do not have teeth-like structures in their mouths in order to chew solid, dry food and therefore have to turn such food into liquid form or split it into 0.45-mm or smaller pieces. In this liquid form, flies can easily suck up their food using their suitably shaped mouths. To do this, flies vomit a saliva-like liquid, containing enzymes and acids, and that disintegrates the solid food into something that can easily be digested in a couple of seconds. In this process, some of the microbes in that waste food can be disintegrated while the rest will be sent to the stomach.

These foods and microbes taken inside in the form of vomit are sent to a sac called a “crop” if they are not small enough to go through the digestive tract. Flies produce fresh saliva regularly during which the vomit moves between their mouths and crops. Eventually, the sufficiently liquefied food is sent to the stomach which contains enzymes and acidic content as well as partially disintegrated microorganisms.

What does scientific research tell us?

Based on the theory that flies must have remarkable antimicrobial defenses and resistance to survive the bacteria from rotting dung, meat, and fruit, a team at the department of biological sciences at Macquarie University in Australia set out to identify those antibacterial properties.

“Our research is a small part of a global research effort for new antibiotics, but we are looking where we believe no one has looked before,” said Joanne Clarke, who presented the group’s findings at the Australian Society for Microbiology Conference in Melbourne.

Clarke’s research showed that flies produce their own antibiotics, and this was tested on four different fly species. Such research may lead to better treatments for human infections from Escherichia coli and other virulent bacteria even, perhaps, Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Upon preliminary results, a global pharmaceutical company decided to support the research over the next six months by trying to isolate antibiotic compounds from the material collected from the flies. The research team is trying to identify the specific antibacterial compounds. As antibiotics that will eventually be invented and chemically synthesized come from the body surface of flies, not from other fungi or bacteria, it is believed that any gene that gives resistance to microbes will not be easily transferred to pathogens and the new antibiotic form will have longer and more effective treatment duration [5].

Later, Russian doctors had developed interest in this topic and observed that flies contain many substances that can be more effective than traditional medications and certain fly larvae have very strong therapeutic effects [6].

Noting that flies should be kept away from hospitals, Professor Juan Alvarez Bravo at the University of Tokyo expressed his support for such research, saying, “But soon we will witness a rapid treatment for many diseases, which consists of extracts from flies” [7].

Some researchers at Auburn University of the United States discovered a protein in the fly’s saliva which can accelerate the lengthy process of healing wounds and chronic skin cracking. Entomologists Ed and Mary Cupp managed to isolate the protein which houseflies inject into their prey to increase blood flow in the skin of their prey. Mary Cupp and surgeon Steven Swaim demonstrated that surgical incisions, skin ulceration, and diabetic foot lesions treated with solutions that combine antibiotics and this protein heal faster and stronger than incisions treated with antibiotics alone [8, 9].

In another study, it was found that epithelial cells forming the inner layers of the front and back intestines of the fly protect it from the bacteria it swallows thanks to a special cuticular lining, and in this way, bacteria never directly touch the intestinal epithelium and cannot give any damage to it. In this study, it was noted that people nurtured a radical approach to flies and that fly control has been abused for the sake of human health, suggesting that flies may be the source of novel germicides that make use of their antimicrobial digestive enzymes, lysozyme, and antimicrobial peptides [10].

Viruses cause many diseases in cattle, sheep, and birds. These diseases include encephalitis, aphthous fever (foot and mouth diseases), and duck plague which can be transferred to people through infected animals. Some crops such as potatoes, tomatoes, bananas, and sugarcane can also be destroyed by viral infections.

Flies carry the viruses of many diseases which are consequently transferred to man’s food, drink, and body. Of these viral diseases are common flu, measles, mumps, chickenpox, warts, yellow fever, infectious liver diseases, some cases of paralysis, some types of cancer, and some chronic diseases of the central nervous system.

El-Naggar, Zaghloul, from Egypt, indicates that some of the disease-causing viruses may directly infect living beings and cause damage to their cells, while there is a type of virus which infects bacteria cells known as “bacteriophage.” These viruses, which can kill the bacteria they infect in a short time, are known as “virulent bacteriophage.” Those viruses that do not kill the bacteria they infect are called “temperate bacteriophage” [11].

After a bacteriophage infects a bacterium, more than 100 viruses are released from that bacterium and each of these viruses can infect new bacteria. The spreading of infection may continue until all vulnerable bacteria cells die. After it was discovered that bacteriophages are parasites of bacteria, they started to be used in treating the diseases caused by bacteria. However, their use in this manner declined after the discovery of antibiotics. Yet, the interest in phage treatment was revived after the emergence of bacterial resistance to antibiotics [12].

Researchers from Stanford University announced that they found a substance in flies that can improve the human immune system [13].

The work by Rehab Mohammed Atta from the Microbiology and Immunology Department, National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt, is quite remarkable [14]. In this research, the extracts taken separately from the left and right wings of flies were used against the bacteria and fungi calculated on nutrient “agar” media in the laboratory. It was demonstrated there was both bacterial and fungal growth for the left wing extract plates while no bacterial or fungal growth was reported for the right ones.

Given the fact that the garbage and rotting corpses on which flies feed from contain numerous dangerous bacteria, it is quite reasonable that it contains antibacterial materials necessary for its survival. In this case, the fly’s needs might be of service as sources of antibiotics that can prevent epidemics among human beings, and this may be the reason why they were created in the first place: not to be a source of nuisance but a source of healing for us.

Aj-Taili, et al., from the department of medical microbiology, Qassim University in Saudi Arabia, conducted an experiment using water, honey, and various fruit juices in different cups. They found no germ in the solution in which the whole body of fly was immersed while the solution in which only one wing of the fly was dipped indicated the presence of germs [15].

In sum, we can say that antibacterial materials produced in the bodies of flies protect them against the microbes in their environments and that these microbes can prevent epidemics among human beings. At the very least, this topic deserves in-depth research. Atta’s study confirms the virtue of the hadith that says, “The best way to release this vital antidote is to dip the fly in a liquid because these substances are concentrated on the outer surface of the fly body and wing.” Abduldaem al-Kaheel refers to this study in his website: “This is logical because the fly has a lot of harmful bacteria on the outside of her body and therefore in order to continue in her life, it should also carry anti-bacterial materials; these materials were furnished by God to protect it from viruses and diseases.” In the light of these studies, the need for conducting more research for obtaining antibiotics from the right wing of the fly is clear [16].

References

1. Abu Dawud, At’imah, 49. Also see Bukhari, Tib, 57, Bed’u al-Khalk 17; Ibn Majah, Tib, 31, Nasa’i, Far’, 11.
2. Brown, Jonathan A. C. 2009. Hadith: Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World, p. 264.
3. Ibid. p. 255.
4. Nursi, Bediuzzaman Said. 2008. The Gleams. The Light, Inc. p. 376.
5. Danny Kingsley, ABC Science Online, 1 October 2002, The new buzz on antibiotics. Clarke, J., Gillings, M. and Beattie, A. (2002). Hypothesis-driven drug discovery. Microbiology Australia, pp. 8–10.
6. Petersburg State University, (2006). The fly effect: Russian Scientists Invent new medicine with the help of flies.
7. Bravo, J. A. (1994). The ointment in the fly: antibiotics. New antibiotic derived from a common fly. The Economist (US).
8. Ed and Mary Cupp (2005). Protein in Fly Saliva Speeds Healing of Incisions Wounds. Auburn University. R Am Ex Ars Medica, Inc., 7:23.
9. Protein in Fly Saliva Speeds Healing of Incisions, Wounds 20-Jan-2005. www.newswise.com/articles/protein-in-fly-saliva-speeds-healing-of-incisions-wounds
10. Nayduch, D. and Burrus, R.G. (2017). Flourishing in Filth: House Fly–Microbe Interactions Across Life History. Special Collection: Filth Fly–Microbe Interactions. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 2017, Vol. 110, No. 1.
11. El-Naggar, Zaghloul, (2010). Housefly Falls into One’s Drink! 09 September 2010. www.quranandscience.com/quran-science/sunnah-science/204-housefly-falls-into-ones-drink-274
12. Aydogan, D.Y., Hadimli, H.H. (2016). Bakteriyofaj Tedavisi (Bacteriophage Treatment), Etlik Vet. Mikrobiyol. Derg.; 27 (1): 38–47.
13. Stanford University Medical Center, 2007. Fruit Fly Insight Could Lead to New Vaccines. Science Daily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070308220904.htm
14. Atta, R. M. (2014): Microbiological Studies on Fly Wings (Musca domestica) Where Disease and Treat. World Journal of Medical Sciences 11 (4): 486–489.
15. Aj-Taili, S.I., A.A.R. Al-Misnid and K.D. Al-Uteybi, (2002). Wing One and the Other Disease Carrying the Cure. Qassim University. Danny Kingsley.
16. Abduldaem al-Kaheel, 1995. New facts: fly have a cure, www.kaheel7.com/eng.

If you heard that a very destructive creature was in your village, what would you expect this creature to look like? Perhaps a ferocious cat, or a colossal beast that was capable of leveling whole buildings? Such a creature does exist in Africa, except it is a single celled bacterium by the genus Trypanosome, a microscopic creature with the capacity to strike fear into the heart of virtually an entire continent. Living a segment of its life as a parasite in the bloodstream of humans and other mammals, Trypanosome can trigger a lethal neurological disorder in the circulatory system. It has also been found that it is the cause of a serious sleep disorder in humans. The disease can ruin a person’s circadian cycle, cause fevers, and changes in personality. Unfortunately, about 60 million people in 36 of the 52 countries in Africa are at constant risk.

Another significant role in the lifecycle of trypanosomiasis is the tsetse fly, the bacteria’s most common intermediate host, which transports the Trypanosome from one mammalian host to another. Trypanosomiasis is endemic in a large area of approximately 3.8 million sq. mi. in Africa, where both the parasitic disease and the tsetse fly coexist. Moreover, the danger is not limited to humans because it also affects many other mammal species, most notably livestock and horses. Malnutrition often follows as a direct consequence when large swaths of animals are killed by trypanosomiasis, as there will be less meat and dairy to consume.

The trypanosome parasite invites disease for the host mammal by collapsing or neutralizing its immune system. Let us first remember how the immune system works:

The immune system

Every living thing is provided with two things: food and protective systems. Immune system is one of these vital systems. Most immune systems across mammals function in similar ways; Antibodies are produced to destroy toxic substances and antigens on foreign bacteria, fungal cells, or the virus sheath invading the body. These antigens can be found on the infected foreign cells and have a unique shape and structure according to the organism that causes each disease. The immune system binds to the antigens of the foreign organism in the same manner as a key-lock system with its antibodies produced while fighting against the disease, thus neutralizes the invading organism.

Most of the antigens, which reveal the identity of a foreign being, are structures created of proteins, polysaccharides, or protein-based fats. Our immune system has the sensitivity and the capacity to produce an infinitely diverse variety that can discern even quite identical but foreign substances bearing antigenic properties for our body. To draw an analogy, a specific antibody can be produced for each speck of dust on Jupiter. Our immune system is blessed with the ability to synthesize appropriate antibodies by selecting proteins that differ in type or location of one amino acid.

The mechanism of binding of the antibody to the antigen is carried out with effective economy, because each type of antibody is produced specifically against a particular antigen. This mechanism works like a key-lock system, so the body recognizes its own cells and does not attack them. Each antibody produced in the immune system is created in a three-dimensional, one-to-one compatible structure with the antigen that causes it to be produced, and easily recognizes and locates it, binds as the key fits into the lock, and thus renders it harmless by disrupting the chemical structure of the antigen.

Trypanosome and the immune system

The case of trypanosome vs. the immune system is somewhat exceptional. The abovementioned almost universal immunity principle does not work against trypanosome. Even though parasites are constantly exposed to the mammalian immune system in the blood, they constantly change the antigen that forms the surface sheath. They thwart the host’s defense, as if rapidly changing their password so that it can never be guessed. Until the immune system produces new antibodies to bind to new antigens, some of the trypanosomes discard their sheaths and drape themselves in another one. If this condition persists, the immune system of the host cannot cope with the infection and may succumb to it.

This extraordinary phenomenon astonishes the scientific community and many scientists are investigating the molecular structure of antigen diversity extensively in African, European, and US laboratories. These parasites are only 0.015–0.030 mm in size, and its two most notorious species are Trypanosoma rhodesiense and Trypanosoma gambiense, which inflict serious damage on the human body.

Like many other parasitic species, the life cycle of trypanosomes is very complex. In each phase of this life journey, the parasite takes different forms and exhibits different characteristics in such an unusual way that generates curiosity. The life cycle can be summarized as follows: when the tsetse fly bites a disease-bearing mammal, the trypanosomes in the mammal’s blood are sucked up and settle in the middle intestine of the fly. They undergo a series of complex processes including several structural and biochemical changes. After about three weeks, the trypanosomes appear in the fly’s salivary glands in a disease-bearing form. Meanwhile, they are also draped in new surface sheaths.

When the secondary host fly bites a healthy person, the disease-causing trypanosomes enter the blood of the new host. In this new stopover, parasites are transformed into a form in which they can rapidly multiply. First, they wreak havoc in blood vessels and on lymph nodes, causing fever, marks and swelling in the body. At this stage, a constant struggle with the host’s immune system ensues. A likely invasion the patient’s central nervous system by the trypanosomes can cause intense drowsiness, coma, and eventually death.

In years of research on the trypanosomes, the thick surface sheath covering the cell membrane of the parasite was first described in 1965 by Keith Vickerman of the University of Glasgow. Shortly thereafter, different surface sheaths were discovered in different trypanosome clones. In 1968, Richard W. F. Page from the Molteno Parasitic Research Institute in Cambridge analyzed and decoded the isolated antigenic surface proteins from several clones, revealing that each clone had a biochemically different protein. The clarity of these differences suggests that each antigen is expressed by a different gene. In the 1970s, George Cross and his colleagues found evidence supporting Le Page’s proposal. These antigens are now called Variable Surface Glycoproteins (VSG). As a result of subsequent research, the picture became even more clear.

Once the infection has begun, antibodies are formed in the host’s immune system that bind to the variable surface glycoproteins that appear on the surface sheath of the invading parasites. These antibodies kill most of the initial trypanosomes. Yet interestingly, on a few remaining trypanosomes a new sheath to which antibodies cannot bind is built, and the trypanosomes evade the immune system’s grasp. The survivors induce a new population producing new variable surface glycoproteins. This time, the immune system produces new antibodies against these freshly constructed antigens. Meanwhile, the parasitic population grows. Newly produced antibodies are able to kill 99% of new parasites again. However, until that time, the parasitic group constituted by about 1% of the survivors has already changed its sheath. Hence, another population begins to multiply. This process of life being a struggle unfortunately continues until the host mammal dies.

The mechanisms of antigen diversity in trypanosomes are very complex and variable, and the total capacity to produce varieties is not clearly known. Recombinant DNA technology is used to investigate the structure of the genes for producing variable surface glycoproteins, the mechanism of cell membrane binding, and the selection and expression of one of the codes. In addition to the four licensed medicines produced for the treatment of parasitic diseases, new drugs are being developed.

It is astonishing that this tiny window of invisible dimensions has such a huge potential opening to different branches of science. Many such exceptional and precise situations exist in the universe that may showcase contradicting mechanisms with general principles and procedures. Sometimes we may wonder why God creates such harmful parasites. Since we do not know the performance at every point of an entire ecosystem with our insufficient scientific knowledge, limited sensory organs and temporary observation, we tend to see any seemingly harmful being as futile and devoid of wisdom and immediately raise our voices in protest. However, with new discoveries in science, thousands of wise meanings may be extracted from a creature we generally take for granted.

References

Lori Peacock, Simon Cook, Vanessa Ferris, Mick Bailey, Wendy Gibson (2012): The life cycle of Trypanosoma (Nannomonas) congolense in the tsetse fly, Parasites & Vectors, 5:109 www.parasitesandvectors.com/content/5/1/109.

Michael P Barrett, Richard J S Burchmore, August Stich, Julio O Lazzari, Alberto Carlos Frasch, Juan José Cazzulo, Sanjeev Krishna, (2003): The Trypanosomiases, The Lancet, Vol 362, November 1, Pages 1469-1475, www.thelancet.com.

www.cdc.gov/dpdx/trypanosomiasisafrican/index.html

Life is over, only its silent voice remains,
Entrusted to the next, its breath remains;
I know not what I will be in the beyond,
Only a broken plectrum’s melody remains.

From the memories of the days now past,
From the silent whom I thought were friends,
From the words repeated at every breath,
Only its rank-struck, dry lyric remains.

Yesterdays yellowed as if fall has hit;
Sorrow rests now on faces once lit;
Past now scattered with a blown wind,
What is done is done, its lament remains.

Birds we were, chirping, “It will appear”
Flew we did, seeking a lofty ideal;
And now it is time to fly beyond there,
From this worldly lie, only a tune remains.

Translated from Turkish by Lina Cakmak

Flies have two wings that are capable of moving independently from each other; these wings go back and forth on a single axis during flight. Technically, the unequal angles of the wings to the abdominal region could have prevented flight. Yet in the case of flies, this abnormal situation is not a hindrance and results in a harmonious wing stroke.

Let’s bring our palms together over our head and then lower them near our legs. How many times can we make this movement in a second? Let’s say two, three, or maybe four times if we are really quick. Flies have the ability to stroke their wings hundreds of times in just a second. There are benefits associated with this series of movements. The surface of the wings and the rear section of the head are equipped with sensitive hairs that are in charge of registering air currents and mechanical pressures and conducting relevant flight data to the brain. The unwanted effects of air currents towards the body surface and wings during the flight are detected via these hairs that house receptors. Thus, the wings are controlled according to the signals arriving from the brain. Therefore, a fly can feel an air curtain (like an insect screen) against it instantly and often times flies away. Sometimes, they also stroke their wings hundreds of times per second to avoid the negative effects of air resistance on the wings. Without these receptors and serial wing movements, the air current would stick to the wing’s surface and would not let the fly, well, fly.

Is it a fly or a plane?

We sometimes witness comparisons between the flight specifications of planes and flies. However, it is a great injustice to the fly to be put in the same basket as a plane. The products of modern technology, such as a plane, are invented after drawing inspiration from the meaningful skills of animals like a fly. It is not possible to build planes with a wing width smaller than 15 centimeters; there are disadvantages to wings smaller than that in terms of generating lift. On the other hand, flies have much smaller and more fragile wing structures (relative to their bodies) and can maintain their flight in a perfect fashion. When a fly extends its rear legs, covered with hairs designed especially for cleaning the wings, and sweeps them over its wings, doesn’t this suggest a fly is more impressive than a plane?

It challenges mountaineers!

A fly challenges mountain climbers by easily moving on the four walls and ceiling of a room – and even on slippery surfaces like glass. What is its secret?

Its ability to stand or walk on the ceiling without being defeated by gravity is possible via some of its organs. The final sections of fly’s legs are like hooks and the tip of this hook is equipped with suction pads. When flies touch a surface, a sticky fluid is secreted from the suction pads. Flies can remain suspended on the ceiling with the help of this fluid. When it approaches the ceiling, extends its legs to the front and flips towards the opposite direction of its approach, it sticks to the ceiling on its abdomen.

The grand architecture in the eye of the fly

Can you complete a jigsaw puzzle of 8000 pieces in a second without any missing pieces? It seems impossible, but let’s accept that you have. Can you fit this puzzle into an area that’s just a couple of square millimeters? It’s not possible for a man of intelligence to pass this test. However, the fly completes this miraculous task every time it uses its eyes in our rooms. We are unaware of the fact that the fly, which draws patterns of colors under the sun light, has such amazing eyes. Its eye is created to contain nearly 8000 ommatidium, which function almost as small eyes. Different areas can be seen via each ommatidium and once images are put together in the brain, the whole picture forms. Through these tiny eyes, shaped as hexagons that resemble honey combs, a fly can see as close as 2 mm – and can even see behind its body! Because of the wise hexagonal design, the ommatidia are placed in the most economical way possible; there are no missing spaces which could cause a lack of clarity. The optical speed of a fly’s eye is nearly 4-10 times faster than the human eye. Flies can see the ultraviolet section of the light spectrum and this allows them to evade predators easily in dim environments. Every time a fly uses its eyes, it’s as if it gives the message, “Look at how miraculously I’ve been created. Do you think that my creation could have been in vain?” Such complexity is an inspiration to scientists as they try to develop new technologies.

One of the features of flies that surprises scientists most is the way they use a neural network of a very limited number of neurons to perform so many complex movements. Biologist Michael Dickinson expresses his astonishment as to how a neural system of such small scale can accomplish all of these features.

Do not ever kill a fly!

Flies consume plenty of energy during flight. A regular supply of oxygen is needed to compensate for the energy they use. Air is inhaled via a constriction of the abdominal muscles when the fly lands on a surface. However, during the flight, air enters via the serial movements of the wings. Air that enters through the openings of the chitin layer surrounding the fly is transported to cells via small channels.

Flies locate their food via their smell receptors. Thus, a fly in the air easily lands on the food source that it detects. The taste organ detects whether the food is an ideal source or not. Usually, their choices of food are human foods, waste remains, and dirt. There are two tubes located in the mouth of the house fly. It sucks liquid food with one of the tubes; saliva containing enzymes is secreted on the food source with the other hose so that digestion is facilitated. A fly secretes plenty of saliva in order to liquefy the solid foods it prefers.

Flies that use dirt and waste as a nutritional source are considered as disease contracting pests. However, this is a major fallacy. Flies are actually the health officers of the ecosystem. They turn microorganisms ineffective as they take in their food; the digestive enzymes that they carry play role in completing this important task. Due to this important task, it should be remembered that killing a fly is very unfortunate. Great scholar, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, notes that flies are assigned to terminate unhealthy microorganisms and materials.

Scientists led by Prof. Andy Beattie have noticed that flies are resistant to all kinds of dirt, including from meat and manure. He said that these organisms should be super resistant to infections, otherwise they could not survive and that our work to gain antibiotics from them has been partially successful. In fact, studies focused on obtaining antibiotics from flies started in the past century. English and Swedish scientists isolated certain antibiotics from flies in 1930 and 1947. Efforts to isolate antibiotics from flies continue today.

Reproduction in black flies!

Black flies reproduce quickly. In suitable humidity and temperature, eggs start to hatch in just 10 hours. Larvae feed on liquid materials, though they need bacteria living on solid food to convert it into liquid form. Therefore, an acid is secreted inside the digestive track of the fly that can terminate most of the bacteria. Thus, the insect becomes free of bacteria, ready to fly. One fly can lay more than 100 eggs at one time and between 600 and 1000 in their lifetime. They can lay eggs again after just three days.

When looking at the information we have, it’s clear that flies are acrobatic flight masters with mind blowing features. We should abandon the negativity towards flies and contemplate the perfection of creation by considering their many remarkable skills – and working to discover even more secrets about them.

Dream, Believe, Fly. These three words have a ring, a truth, a purity. As an author of books for teen readers, I gave these three words to one of my characters, and these three words became her mantra. She was sixteen; I am more. The motto works for both of us. My character had those words tattooed onto her skin; I have them tattooed into my soul. Dream. Believe. Fly.

The first step to achieving is to dream. You need to see, you need to dream, you need to believe. Faith and fervor result in the necessary work, and the work gives you wings. The wind beneath those wings is the dream, the belief, the need to achieve.

We are given one life. Some of us live soft; some live hard. Some laugh a lot; some cry. Some are brave; some are not. Some live many years; some live few. At the age of fifty-five, I’ve seen many friends leave this earth, and I’ve learned that we need to seize not only the moment, but our dreams. We need to seize our dreams, grab onto them, and never forget what we hope to accomplish in this world. We need to seize first, then to believe. We need to believe with all of our hearts, with all of our minds, with all of our very beings. We are each instilled with the magic to make things happen. We are resilient and we are strong and we have the power inside, if only we dream and we believe that we can indeed fly.

I’ve wanted to write ever since I can remember. My first memory of elementary school is that of the library, and of a pink Mary Poppins book that I reached up to pull from the shelf. Mary Poppins could fly, and this much I believed: So could I.

It would be many years, though, before I got my wings. There would be hardships and hurt, suffering and struggles. There would be days of hard work, and nights of worry. There would be dark nights when I could not see the stars; days when I tried to believe that life might get easier with time.

“When a man can observe himself suffering and is able, later, to describe what he’s gone through, it means he was born for literature.” A writer named Edouard Bourdet said that in 1927. Many years later, those words still speak to this writer’s soul.

1989 was a rough year. I was 31 years old, and my motto at that time might have been “Hang in there.” I was hit by a drunk driver in July. He left me by the roadside with injuries, a demolished car, and a shattered faith in mankind. He went to jail; I went home to heal.

Two months later, my stepson’s biological mother deposited him on our doorstep. He was six years old, and all he had in the world was a trash bag stuffed with his earthly possessions. He awakened sobbing every night. With my own six-year-old son from a previous marriage, I couldn’t comprehend how a mother’s heart could be so cold.

Two months after my stepson came to us, I unexpectedly became pregnant. I still had no car, and was undergoing treatment for persistent neck and back injuries incurred by the accident. We were poor. My stepson was aching and confused. So was I. Hang in there. Hang in there hang in there hang in there.

In the middle of the pregnancy, I contracted Fifth Disease, a form of the measles. There was an outbreak in the elementary schools of our area, and the medical community was unsure as to the effects of the illness in pregnant women. I was sent for a level two ultrasound, and told by the doctors that I could be “cautiously optimistic” for a healthy baby. However, I’d need a weekly ultrasound. If the fetus contracted the disease or showed signs of anemia, it would be necessary to undergo a blood transfusion in utero. The risks, I was told, were stillbirth and miscarriage. Oh, please, please. Hang in there.

On the day before our baby was due, my husband John came home from work, weeping. It was August of 1990, and the Gulf War and recession had resulted in a permanent lay-off from his longtime construction job. It was the first (and only) time I saw him cry. His heart was broken.

Our son was born: a perfectly healthy and beautiful baby boy. We were ecstatic, despite the fact that John didn’t have a job and we were living in a cramped mobile home with three children: his, mine, and ours.

“Maybe I should get a real job,” I said. “Give up this crazy dream of writing books.” I was an established newspaper and magazine writer, but had been attempting futilely to break into the competitive world of children’s books.

“Keep at it,” John said. “Don’t give up.” Don’t give up. Another three words to grasp onto. So I didn’t. I didn’t give up. I stayed home and wrote, raising our children and grasping tight to my hopes. I prayed for the strength to continue writing despite the obstacles and staggering odds. Don’t give up. Hang in there. Don’t give up.

Several weeks after our son Zach was born, John saw an ad in a local paper: “Old Barn: Free For The Taking-Down.”

John took the barn apart, piece-by-piece, and found that there was a market for the materials. The boards and beams, windows and doors and weather vanes were all sold. The barn would live on for another hundred years, in a hundred different places. It was

the beginning of John’s own business, but we still didn’t have much money. One writer and one self-employed Barn Saver plus three children is an equation that doesn’t always equal promptly-paid bills. Don’t give up. Hang in there.

When Zach was two months old, I began writing a novel for pre-teen children. Working on an ancient and clattering typewriter, I used the kitchen table for my desk. I plugged away on the typewriter as Zach dozed contentedly in his swing. Through the window of our mobile home, I could see the green Welsh Mountain of Pennsylvania. This mountain would be the setting of the book. The main character, Maizie, was a girl who’d been abandoned by her mother. She was hurting. Maizie had lots of wishes, but life was rough. I knew: I’d used bits and pieces of my own. But still, Maizie had hope. Someday, somehow, everything would be okay. Don’t give up. Hang in there.

The book Maizie would be published five years later, in 1995. In the meanwhile, I wrote a picture book based on John’s work of dismantling and recycling old barns. The book – Barn Savers – was published in 1999 and was honored by the American Library Association’s Booklist Journal by being named Top Of The List, Best Picture Book of 1999. It was also lauded as a Notable Book in the Language Arts by the National Council of Teachers of English, as well as short-listed for the Bill Martin Jr. Picture Book Award in Kansas and the Keystone State Reading award. A mention of the book appeared in the pages of People Magazine.

Since then, I’ve written about twenty more books. I went back to college at the age of fifty, and earned an MFA in Writing. I got to travel to Italy, because of my writing. I taught on cruise ships, and I taught in a medieval castle on a hilltop in Tuscany. I was honored in England in 2012 with a short story prize, and I got to travel to the U.K. for the first time, staying in the dorms of Oxford University. Dream, Believe, Fly.

Somewhere around the time that I changed from forty-nine to fifty, somewhere around the time that I applied to Vermont College and was accepted, that was the time that I changed my motto for life. I still believe in “Hang In There” and “Don’t Give Up.” But those words never held the power, the faith, the magic that my new motto does.

I had to get a student loan in order to go to school, and that was scary. I kept repeating my motto, though, as I waded through the mounds of paperwork and forms and red tape. “Dream. Believe. Fly. You are Linda Oatman High and you love to write. Dream, believe, fly. You only get one life. Now is the time. Dreambelievefly.”

Our youngest son went through some struggles in his teenage years. We got through them. He’s still finding his path in life, at the age of 23. As long as he dreams, as long as he believes … he will indeed fly.

The kids are now grown, and I’m on my way to growing old. I’m fifty-five. I love my life. It’s hard at times; it’s fun at others. But it’s always mine, and we only get one life.

I’m now a grandmother, and I hope to instill the things that I’ve learned in my grandchildren. I hope that they find the strength and the courage and the faith to dream. I pray that they believe.

And I know, I know, I know in my soul … they will fly.

Linda Oatman High is an author/playwright/poet/journalist (www.lindaoatmanhigh.com) who lives in Lancaster County, PA and teaches everywhere.

***

Receive Love’s letters and let go of the pigeons
And your heart will fly higher with Love.
Wherever you look,
You will see the Face of the Beloved
For He is with you wherever you are
And is never absent!
You will always live in love with the Truly Real (al-Haqq)!
And you will never lose Love when the pigeons fly away!
O Soul, do not then lose sight of the Beloved

***

Everything reminds the lover of his Beloved
And for that he loves everything
There is no loss in that Love
There is always a new letter;
For the Beloved is swift in sending
And is always Creative!
Thus, the lover cannot think but in the Beloved
His actions are to please the Beloved
He worries to displease the Beloved
He cannot eat or drink but with the Beloved
Every chanting reminds Him of the Beloved
He sleeps with his lips praising the Beloved
And wakes with his lips glorifying the Beloved

***

He calls the Beloved
And attentively awaits the answer
And the Beloved keeps writing
For even if all the trees were pens
And all oceans were ink
They would cease
but the words of the Beloved will forever continue

***

The amazing reality of Love
Is that no matter how the lover is brought near to the Beloved
He wishes to draw even nearer
For the Beloved’s expressions are eternal
So, O soul: Read!

Airborne drones are becoming commonplace, especially in the civilian world. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, are aircrafts controlled by a pilot from a remote location on the ground. Drones are increasingly being used, and not just for military purposes. They’re used for agriculture, disaster response, energy production, environmental monitoring, construction, and sports activities. Their use has expanded exponentially in recent years, spurred by technological advancements and easy access to affordable high-tech parts. Drones can fly from several minutes to several days, depending on the technology and the mission, and the cost of having a drone ranges from a few hundred dollars for hobbyists to millions of dollars for military purposes. But as happens with most major technological changes in a society, the increased role of drones is raising privacy and public safety concerns.

Although drones are unmanned vehicles and depend mostly on human intelligence, adaptive control systems and artificial intelligence technologies can allow drones to fly without human intervention. Drones are increasingly becoming autonomous, following a pre-programmed mission, and can even make their own decisions while gathering and sending data back to a ground unit.

Drones are becoming popular for military purposes. They are cheaper than a military aircraft, and flying them remotely means there is no danger for the flight crew. Small drones can get into places where humans cannot, and large drones can fly into war zones to gather surveillance or to take part in military strikes. On the plus side, this will reduce the number of active military personnel in war zones, and reduce casualties. Even the possibility of replacing human drone operators with computer algorithms is in discussion, leaving a machine to make the final decision about whether to end a civilian life or to destroy vital infrastructure (this decision is also called the ‘signature strike’). [1]. Such a possibility raises serious questions about the ethics of war, privacy, and public safety.

Law enforcement officers are already using drones to detect people illegally crossing their nation’s borders. It is already in use by cities in the US for monitoring criminals, for crime fighting, car chases, executing search-and-rescue missions, firefighting and basic surveillance. People are interested in using camera-equipped drones to patrol their homes during police raids, to collect their own evidence.

Another proposed use is in the protection and inspection of infrastructures, and monitoring power lines, dams, levees, and gas pipelines to reduce the cost and manpower for these dangerous, dull, and costly jobs. If they are intelligently deployed in civilian life, drones can be useful in keeping people out of harm’s way.

Drones can assist in search and rescue missions after tornadoes, earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters, especially in places not reachable by, or dangerous to, humans. They can locate survivors and report their location to the ground base [2]. Drones can fly through the dark, pick up heat signatures of bodies using infrared cameras, see through smoke using thermal cameras, record footage using night-vision, and pick up hard-to-hear sounds in dangerous locations. Since they are small, they can easily be transported and deployed in disaster areas, and be up in the air in minutes compared to the longer time requirements required for planes and other rescue vehicles.

An example of this is drones that are already in use monitoring abused wildlife in Kenya and rescuing injured skiers in France [3]. Drones are also extremely useful in monitoring wildfires with minimal cost and little risk of loss of life. NASA is already using drones for monitoring hurricanes, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is monitoring wildlife in the Arctic, and the US Geological Survey (USGS) is mapping remote terrain and performing environmental research.

Drones are becoming an important part of agricultural production. They can help farmers to check if their fields need watering or fertilizing. In Japan, drones are used for precision agriculture, where drones fly over a field and use multispectral cameras to take pictures of the crop and analyze if it is over-watered or under-watered. This allows farmers to precisely determine the right amount water and pesticide to use, and this helps them decrease costs and increase the crop’s yield.

An interesting application of drones is in clean energy production. Some companies are already exploring the use of drones as autonomous wind turbines that would be flown like mechanical kites [4]. The goal is using drones equipped with wind turbines to fly to higher altitudes, where more consistent and powerful wind is available to be harnessed. These drones are lighter and cheaper than wind turbines, and can adjust themselves to the wind streams to maximize their energy harvesting.

Drones are also used by the construction industry. They provide a cost effective way to check the progress of a construction project, help managers inspect hard to reach locations, take architectural photographs, create 3D scans of a building using infrared cameras, survey more precisely, undertake comprehensive safety inspections, and even replace some of a project’s manual labor. Drones recently demonstrated their ability to assemble, brick by brick, a 1:100 scale model of a skyscraper. Researchers are investigating more potential applications of drone technology in construction sector [5].

The most common use of drones will likely be by hobbyists, who have access to cheap, light, camera-equipped machines that can be controlled by smartphones and tablets. Athletes and extreme sports hobbyists are using drones to capture their activities and tricks during snowboarding or skating outings. Climbers have drones follow them for safety and to record and report their progress to base camps. Drones are increasingly being used by amateur or professional photographers to capture footage. While hobbyists can buy drones ready to fly out of the box, many are going the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) route to create customized, specialized aircrafts. Drone hobbyist websites have more than millions of members, and are growing every day. People exchange their experiences, pictures, and schematics, thus enabling their fellow hobbyists to improve their own drones.

Autonomous drone technology is not limited to the skies. Seaborne drones are already deployed in the ocean to monitor coastlines and passageways for pirates [6]. They communicate with an airborne drone for intelligence and can be picked up by a ship or submarine after the mission is completed. They need to be equipped with capabilities to survive for a long time in cold and corrosive seawater, and to tackle the challenges of underwater communication.

The drone industry is growing fast, and is estimated to have created 70,000 jobs and made an economic impact of $13.6 billion in its first three years. With all the benefits this new technology is contributing to our lives, the domestic use of drones has grown; but so have concerns about their privacy, safety, and regulation. Many people are concerned about their potential for abuse. One of the suggestions for government use of drones is limiting their use to a few purposes determined by the law, and specifically for emergency and public safety. Hobbyists and recreational users do not need any special license to fly a drone, but they are encouraged to follow guidelines outlined for public safety. The guidelines mainly suggest operating drones at a sufficient distance from populated areas, and not over or near private properties or lower than 120 meters in altitude. One of the main concerns about the public use of drones is the ease of weaponizing them; they could conceivably be used to attack private targets.

In science fiction movies, intelligent systems and drones can become self-aware and cause serious problems. It is unlikely that drones will become self-aware anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any safety issues about drones. As seen with most secure computer systems, drone can be hacked by a malicious person or group. These groups can take control of the vehicle, access its video feeds, alter data and information sent to ground control units, and spoof GPS systems to manipulate the drone to land or attack a different target.

When technological breakthroughs are achieved in critical areas, as in drones, a series of solid scientific research needs to be conducted before populating the civilian market with the technological products. Governments and civil societies have an important role in regulating the usage of drone. Some of these steps include requiring a warrant for deployment, limiting the data retention time for images and video feeds, establishing an accountability mechanism, and prohibiting the weaponization of domestic drones.

Acknowledgment: This article was produced by Mergeous [7], an online article and project development service for authors and publishers dedicated to the advancement of technologies in the merging realms of science and spiritual thought.

Halil I. Demir is an internet entrepreneur and freelance writer.

References

[1] T. Zakaria and M. Hosenball. “U.S. Drone Guidelines Could Reduce -Signature Strikes,” The Huffington Post, May 23, 2013.

[2] H. Kelly. “Drones: The future of disaster response,” CNN, May 23, 2013.

[3] A. Levy and M. Milian. “Future of Drones: Aerial Assassins or Helpful Hovercrafts?” Bloomberg, May 15, 2013.

[4] K. D. Atherton, “Google Bets $10.7 Million On Drone Intelligence,” Popular Science Magazine, May 16, 2013.

[5] R. Von Ins, “Rise of the Drones,” Georgia Institute of Technology, January 23, 2013.

[6] J. Emspak, “Schools of Sleeper Drones Could Swim Future Seas,” Discovery News, January 25, 2013.

[7] Mergeous, Online article and project development service, mergeous.com

To find a way out

Toward that which it seeks and longs for

Travels with the hope of recovering what is lost

Travels from the reason to the heart

To bereft of power

To distinguish the hopeful

from among the hopeless causes

There’s a cold war between realities and imaginings

Dawn comes in dreams

When everything turns pale in the dead hours of the night

Dawn comes in dreams

Dreams are always vivid

Full of color

There when a man looks deep

Into unfathomed oceans

Beholds the past

The far future and what is near to come

What is old about to be replaced or renewed?

Dawn comes in dreams

When realities are too dark to endure

Dawn comes in dreams

In darkness a man suffers

The extreme of loneliness

When mouths are tight-lipped

As if zip-fastened

He wishes to sprout wings and fly

To the realms beyond and fly

Dawn comes in dreams

When events begin to drive me to give up hope

Dawn comes in dreams

These findings might help researchers to design more effective drugs for various human infections by focusing on the minimization of the inflammation. Moreover, bats are capable of sustained long flights, as some bat species can fly more than 1,000 km in a single night. With such intense physical activity, cells often produce high levels of toxic (free radicals) that would usually damage DNA sequence.

This study also found that bats are equipped with a highly functional set of genes that mediates DNA repair in response to DNA damage, thus bats are protected from toxic cellular waste with this advanced mechanism. Aging, cancer and infectious diseases are the three major issues medicine is facing today and biological abilities granted to bats seem to provide important clues for us to discover new ways to combat these big health problems