The Best Bug-Killing Gear

According to Dickinson, flies rely heavily on sight and have a nervous system that is many times faster than humans’—10 times faster, Dickinson said in an interview, with aspects of vision alone happening more than six times faster than in human eyes. So when you’re swatting flies, the key is that “you don’t want to be visible and you want to be as fast as you possibly can,” he said. One way to gain a speed advantage is to use a swatter with a longer handle. As Dickinson told us, “If you have an object in your hand, the speed with which you can move the end of it is proportional primarily to the length.” But even that offers only a minimal advantage, he said. “The skill really comes down to getting your swatter close to the fly before you flip it because you want to minimize the distance … and I think you can do that whether you have a crappy flyswatter or a good flyswatter.”