If the fall of insects' tiny empires causes whole ecosystems to unravel, toppling previously solid certainties about the way our world functions, what then? It's easy to foresee how diminishing supplies of certain foods and crashing wildlife populations will heap cascading suffering on the poor and vulnerable, given the lopsided nature of societies, and perhaps even stoke embers of resentment and nationalism as foundational resources become scarcer. It's also reasonable to anticipate that we will reflexively grasp for a technological fix to the mess we've created. If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism.

A new flying robot called DelFly has flapping wings and can dodge a swatting hand with as much agility as a fruit fly. DelFly has two thin plastic wings on each side of its body, inspired by a fruit fly. Though it's 55 times bigger than an actual fruit fly, DelFly can do all the same aerial acrobatics. It can even perform 360-degree flips – a move flies never seem to do. Flies perform agile evasive motion when trying to escape a threat, such as a predator or an incoming flyswatter. One particularly nimble move they perform is called a banked turn, and involves tilting their bodies to perform a sharp change in direction.