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It's the facultative diapause season

Matt:

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I have some friends who live in the Frozen North. They claim that when they close up all the windows for winter, flies collect on the window sill and lie dormant for the rest of the season. Then when they open the windows in spring, these same flies are revived and eventually fly away. Is this possible?

-- Bzzzzzzz, someplace warmer

So Buzz, I'll reserve comment on folks who leave comatose flies all over the window sills for an entire winter. Even a small effort with a Dustbuster, and I wouldn't have to waste my time answering this. Your friends would not know and you would not care that flies can doze away for months, then wake up fully refreshed. It's fully possible that your untidy Frozen Northerners have all manner of flies, mosquitoes, spiders, and other insects hiding in many cozy crevices inside and outside the house. The correct term for this midwinter nap is facultative diapause, a physiological mechanism for surviving under temporarily adverse conditions, like when you're freezing your wings off. Come to think of it, by that definition, sleeping through biology class is a sort of diapause too.

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Matt:

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I have some friends who live in the Frozen North. They claim that when they close up all the windows for winter, flies collect on the window sill and lie dormant for the rest of the season. Then when they open the windows in spring, these same flies are revived and eventually fly away. Is this possible?

-- Bzzzzzzz, someplace warmer

So Buzz, I'll reserve comment on folks who leave comatose flies all over the window sills for an entire winter. Even a small effort with a Dustbuster, and I wouldn't have to waste my time answering this. Your friends would not know and you would not care that flies can doze away for months, then wake up fully refreshed. It's fully possible that your untidy Frozen Northerners have all manner of flies, mosquitoes, spiders, and other insects hiding in many cozy crevices inside and outside the house. The correct term for this midwinter nap is facultative diapause, a physiological mechanism for surviving under temporarily adverse conditions, like when you're freezing your wings off. Come to think of it, by that definition, sleeping through biology class is a sort of diapause too.

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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