'The Matrix' Bullet Dodge Scene: Understanding How A Housefly Views The Deadly Flyswatter

Flies are difficult to swat because to them, humans move in slow motion.  This is according to a recent study published in Animal Behaviour journal. 

The Independent quotes one of the researchers, Dr. Luke McNally of Edinburgh University, as saying, "[For the fly] it feels like you are moving so slowly towards them. It's the same as the famous bullet-time scene where the bullets are moving at this incredibly slow rate as far as Keanu is concerned." 

Dr. McNally was referring to the famous scene from the movie Matrix, wherein Neo, the character played by Keanu Reeves, dodged the bullet aimed at him, which he perceived in slow motion. 

According to the report, flies can process seven times more information per second than a human, hence things seem to move slower to them.   Dr. McNally explained, "That's because they are  getting much more information per second through their visual system...  so that second feels longer." 

The perception of time is believed to be linked to the animal's size and metabolism, as well as the circumstance.  In emergency situations, for instance, the brain gathers information at an elevated rate as a means for self-preservation.  Dogs can process twice the information per second that humans are able; while the leatherback turtle processes only a third. 

"This perception of time co-evolved with how fast you can move, how fast your metabolism is and how small you are," explained Dr. McNally. "There's very little point in gaining all this information if you cannot react to it." 

The study was based on the ability of different animals to perceive flickering light.  

The Telegraph explains, "Critical flicker fusion frequency' - the point at which the flashes seem to merge together, so that a light source appears constant - provides an indication of time perception." 

The publication also reports that the study, led by Dr. Andrew Jackson of Trinity College Dublin, was initiated after the scientist noticed "the way small children always seem to be in such a hurry." 

Dr. Jackson has been quoted as saying, "It's tempting to think that for children time moves more slowly than it does for grown ups, and there is some evidence that it might.  People have shown in humans that flicker fusion frequency is related to a person's subjective perception of time, and it changes with age.  It's certainly faster in children."