To Know a FlyFirst published in 1962, this book by esteemed American physiologist and entomologist Vincent Dethier provides an array of helpful examples of how ingeniously controlled experiments are designed and used. Other processes of scientific inquiry are also explained, such as observation, correlation, cause and effect, gathering and interpreting data, hypothesizing, and theory building. Recommended to scientists of all ages! “...This is a superb natural history book and is highly recommended for anyone twelve or older.”—Scientific American “The author never ‘talks down’ to his readers but preserves such delightful and sparkling informal style throughout that we tend to overlook the professional skill with which he attacks his problems, the beauty of the experiments he describes. The book is such pleasant reading that we may not realize that this all represents biological research of a very high order. Among the many excellent features we may note the author’s commentaries on scientific method, which are extremely acute, informative, and provocative.”—Journal of the American Medical Association “Highly recommended enrichment reading for biology teachers and secondary students in general science or biology.—The Science Teacher |
From inside the book
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... never seemed to be a taboo against pulling off the legs or wings of flies. Most children eventually outgrow this behavior. Those who do not either come to a bad end or become biologists. It is believed in some quarters that to become a ...
... never seemed to be a taboo against pulling off the legs or wings of flies. Most children eventually outgrow this behavior. Those who do not either come to a bad end or become biologists. It is believed in some quarters that to become a ...
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... never develop resistance). This little beast accomplished one thing that you and I can never accomplish; he flew there! One of the smaller flies weighs about seven millionths of a pound. He is equipped with two reinforced membranous ...
... never develop resistance). This little beast accomplished one thing that you and I can never accomplish; he flew there! One of the smaller flies weighs about seven millionths of a pound. He is equipped with two reinforced membranous ...
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... never taken into account how great an increase in efficiency would have ensued had a more suitable working environment been provided. Later we did get air-conditioning because on hot, humid days the flies in our laboratory culture died ...
... never taken into account how great an increase in efficiency would have ensued had a more suitable working environment been provided. Later we did get air-conditioning because on hot, humid days the flies in our laboratory culture died ...
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... never more conclusively demonstrated. For a year we had been endeavoring, unsuccessfully, to persuade the administration that our working quarters were unreasonably cramped. Suddenly we were informed that the occupants of the adjoining ...
... never more conclusively demonstrated. For a year we had been endeavoring, unsuccessfully, to persuade the administration that our working quarters were unreasonably cramped. Suddenly we were informed that the occupants of the adjoining ...
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... never been able to understand, a line has been drawn across the evolutionary scale separating those animals that must be treated humanely and those outside the Pale. (Although just recently in a scientific journal I noticed a most ...
... never been able to understand, a line has been drawn across the evolutionary scale separating those animals that must be treated humanely and those outside the Pale. (Although just recently in a scientific journal I noticed a most ...
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able activity ants archy and mehitabel bees beetles behavior biologist blood blowfly body brain cage caterpillars cells Chapter cockroach colleague creature cricket dance Dethier don marquis drink drop of sugar dung dung beetle eating Edward Lear eggs example experiment experimental animal eyes fact feathers fed fly feeding feet female flea flies fluid fly’s fucose gland Glencannon hair hand head hive honeybee hormones human hungry fly insects jump Karel Čapek kind lab coat laboratory learning legs less Lewis Carroll light live liverwurst lose water males mechanism move neck nerve never observation odor one’s operation osmotic pressure prefer preserving jar problem proboscis protein question reason removed salt satiation saucer scientific scientist sense of taste sense organ sensitive simple slices species specific hunger stock room student thing thirsty trail tube understanding Vincent Dethier Waggle Dance walk wasp wings