How A Laser Can Dictate Fruit Flies’ Heart Beats

A new study describes a successful experiment where researchers were able to engineer fruit flies’ hearts into being light sensitive and thus, could control the beats with the flashing pulses of a laser.

Scientists have been able to successfully control a fruit fly’s heartbeat with a laser. 
The process is akin to a pacemaker regulating cardiac movements through electrical stimulation except it uses light instead. 
It’s part of a growing field called optogenetics where cells are engineered to become s