Not IQ, FlyQ, is the name of a large format billboard that enables flies and other insects to solve complex equations.

Here's how it works:
The board looks like a featureless, off-white surface, coated with pin heads which are actually a matrix of tiny nozzles, each of which is controlled by a miniature valve. All of the nozzles are connected to a supply of an insect attracting type of clear sugary liquid.

Equations which are entered into the matrix by keyboard, will be invisible until the flies arrive to feed on the tiny beads of invisible nutrient and collonate the surface of the board, their dark forms creating the letters and symbols.

Nozzles revealing the solution are turned on after a judicious period of time has elapsed. Once a week the board is washed down to remove all traces of flies and nutrients, and a new message is displayed.
-- xenzag, Oct 04 2007

Promised follow up to... Snail_20Koans
one year later. [xenzag, Oct 04 2007]

Monk-glued ants Tibetan_20Ant_20Painting
shameless elf-promotion [RayfordSteele, Oct 04 2007]

I envision Carol Vorderman standing in front of a board covered in flies sweeping her hands back and forth [+]
-- skinflaps, Oct 04 2007


This is proabably the most jam and bee compatible idea I've discovered during my time here. Wonderful. [+]
-- theleopard, Oct 04 2007


Perfect for a spelling bee. [+]
-- marklar, Oct 04 2007


I love it.
-- normzone, Oct 04 2007


Awesome.

And I thought that monks gluing different colored ants to the floor was avant-garde.
-- RayfordSteele, Oct 04 2007


i want to see these monk-glued ants.
-- k_sra, Oct 04 2007


I was hoping this would find a way to actually allow the insects to solve the problem using their collective intellectual capabilities...sort of like distributed computing.

Is there a way to make a logic gate using flies, without harming them?
-- ed, Oct 04 2007


+
<that's all fly has to say>
-- xandram, Oct 04 2007


//a supply of an insect attracting type of clear sugary liquid// That would be "insect-attracting". But nitpicking aside, [+]
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 04 2007


Bone!
-- quantum_flux, Oct 04 2007


I meant to mention that it can also display large images of spiders.
-- xenzag, Oct 04 2007


I aggre with [ed]. This is just a fancy lightbrite. Perhaps one may find a set of biochemical signals that would propogate patterns of fly behavior across the board. Picture cellular automata: depending on the previous configuration of surrounding squares (fly, no fly, signal type), the concerning square would release a new signal. Thus, the flies would potentially find ways to harness patterns in the signaling to communicate with humans: "all your plates of food are belong to us". For example.

With a signal that flies liked (i.e. poop), you control the squares which output the signal based on surrounding squares. So, then, a square will only let out poop if no flies are on it's surrounding squares. Watch how fast the flies turn into a checker board pattern to maximize poopage. The speed and efficiency of the flies finding these cues may reveal some details of behavioral intelligence amongst these wondrous, annoying creatures.
-- daseva, Oct 04 2007


//But nitpicking aside//
No, I don't think nits would work because they don't fly.
-- coprocephalous, May 23 2008


[Xenzag] You seem to have made poignancy a hobby.
-- MikeD, May 24 2008



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