A 2-minute reaction-time test for the class screen, built around a real piece of science from September 2026: the first complete map of a fruit fly's brain.
The science, in three lines
- In September 2026, scientists at Google Research and HHMI Janelia published the complete wiring map of a male fruit fly's brain and nerve cord: 166,700 neurons and 125 million connections. It took ten years.
- A fly dodges a swatter using one giant neuron that fires in about 8 milliseconds. A human reaction is about 250 ms, and that is with 86 billion neurons.
- The map is free for anyone to download, and within days people had wired it up to play video games.
Run it on the class screen
- Open flybrain.dhaw.al on the classroom computer or smartboard.
- A student types their first name and your class code (any short code you choose, e.g. 2M), then taps Start.
- Red means wait. Green means tap as fast as you can. Five rounds, then a score card appears.
- Tap Next player for the next student. The class code is remembered on that computer.
- Open flybrain.dhaw.al/class/2M (your code) to show the live leaderboard. It refreshes on its own.
No screen? Use a ruler
One student holds a 30 cm ruler at the top. The other holds thumb and finger open at the zero mark. Drop it without warning; they catch it. Read the centimetres and look up the time:
| Caught at | Reaction time |
|---|---|
| 10 cm | 143 ms |
| 15 cm | 175 ms |
| 20 cm | 202 ms |
| 25 cm | 226 ms |
| 30 cm | 247 ms |
Privacy
The site stores a first name, a class code and the reaction times. No surnames, emails, logins or photos. Nothing identifies a child outside the classroom. You can wipe your class board at any time with the teacher PIN, which you'll get from the parent who shared this with you.