Exploring The Fly Room and the foundation of modern genetics

An unlikely collaboration between science and art results in the re-creation of a turn-of-the-century laboratory filled with fruit flies

The fly room, Brooklyn, N.Y.
(Image credit: (Amy Kraft))

The fruit flies are everywhere. Thousands are trapped inside glass milk jars stuffed with gauze, while others circle the small laboratory's ceiling or gather around the shelves crammed with brass-knobbed microscopes. Three dusty wooden desks are cluttered with notepads, pencils, magnifying glasses, and metal tins of Chesterfield tobacco.

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Amy Kraft is a print and radio reporter based in New York. She reports on science and the environment for publications including Scientific American, Discover, Popular Science, Psychology Today, and Distillations, a podcast out of the Chemical Heritage Foundation. She is currently working on a book of humor essays. You can check out more of her writing on her blog Jaded Bride.