Why fruit flies, mosquitos are 'brainier' than people suspect

Having trouble getting rid of fruit flies at home or in the office? Don't be surprised - they're 'brainer' than you think. New research out of Johns Hopkins Medicine shows that the tiny brains of fruit flies and mosquitos have about 200,000 neurons and other cells. By comparison, a human brain has 86 billion neurons, and a rodent brain contains about 12 billion. So even though these pests' brains are simple, they can do a lot of processing - even more than a supercomputer - thus allowing these bugs to navigate, find food, and perform other complicated tasks at the same time. Christopher Potter, associate professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is with us to explain.