How Nuclear Flies Protect You from Flesh-Eating Parasites

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

1.2M subscribers

2,713,737 views

Go to https://brilliant.org/nutshell/ to dive deeper into these topics and more with a free 30-day trial + 20% off the premium subscription! This video was sponsored by Brilliant. Thanks a lot for the support! Turn your walls into a science masterpiece! Explore our expertly designed posters and directly fund our videos – only in the kurzgesagt shop: https://shop.kgs.link/science Sources & further reading: https://sites.google.com/view/sources-mutant-flies/ A war has been raging for decades in the jungles of Panama, as we fight one of the most terrifying parasites on Earth. It is so relentless that our best defense is to drop 100 million radiation-blasted, flesh-eating flies from the sky – every week. It’s one of the most successful biological campaigns in history, but it’s a war we can never stop fighting… and one we can’t afford to lose. OUR CHANNELS ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ German: https://kgs.link/youtubeDE Spanish: https://kgs.link/youtubeES French: https://kgs.link/youtubeFR Portuguese: https://kgs.link/youtubePT Arabic: https://kgs.link/youtubeAR Hindi: https://kgs.link/youtubeHI Japanese: https://kgs.link/youtubeJA Korean: https://kgs.link/youtubeKO HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT US? ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ This is how we make our living and it would be a pleasure if you support us! Get Products designed with ❤️ https://shop.kgs.link Join the Patreon Bird Army 🐧 https://kgs.link/patreon DISCUSSIONS & SOCIAL MEDIA ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Instagram: https://kgs.link/instagram TikTok: https://kgs.link/tiktok Reddit: https://kgs.link/reddit Discord: https://kgs.link/discord Twitter: https://kgs.link/twitter Bluesky: https://kgs.link/bluesky Facebook: https://kgs.link/facebook Newsletter: https://kgs.link/newsletter OUR VOICE ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ The kurzgesagt voice is from Steve Taylor: https://kgs.link/youtube-voice OUR MUSIC ♬♪ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ 700+ minutes of kurzgesagt soundtracks by Epic Mountain: Spotify: https://kgs.link/music-spotify Soundcloud: https://kgs.link/music-soundcloud Bandcamp: https://kgs.link/music-bandcamp Youtube: https://kgs.link/music-youtube Facebook: https://kgs.link/music-facebook The soundtrack of this video: SoundCloud: https://bit.ly/3ZESsr6 Bandcamp: https://bit.ly/43LKTQF If you want to help us caption this video, please send subtitles to subtitle@kurzgesagt.org You can find info on what subtitle files work on YouTube here: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2734698?hl=en-GB&ref_topic=7296214 Thank you! 🐦🐧🐤 PATREON BIRD ARMY 🐤🐧🐦 ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Many thanks to our wonderful Patreons (from http://kgs.link/patreon) who support us every month and made this video possible: Nooby3555, Jasmine Blanch, Ternich, Karel,Hayk Shahparonyan, jjktard, QVH, Julian Truniger, Bad Tanker, Max Ganaa, Business Goose, Ruben Grudzus, Feigel family, FJ, Esinam Bediako,Bruhnabis, Bernice Chen, Alex Salinero, Winthace, Jakob Shuey, One Point, xvskulblaka7, Logan Larson CHAPTERS ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ 0:00 Start 2:30 Skip The "Fun" Part

7,409 Comments

@kurzgesagt

6/2/2025

Go to <a href="https://brilliant.org/nutshell/">https://brilliant.org/nutshell/</a> to dive deeper into these topics and more with a free 30-day trial + 20% off the premium subscription! This video was sponsored by Brilliant. Thanks a lot for the support!

668

@princekrice3819

6/6/2025

I'm not sure if it is the same species or not, but this year in the hot and rainy season here in Costa Rica it came back with a vengeance. All the owners of cows fought bravely against it again, using spray to treat the wounds and placing the injured animals in a careful watch. For this types of flies people usually hang plastic bags with a sticky substance on fences, to trap the insects. There was an old man that suffered a little abrasion on the face, and got infected by the fly. The last image looked really bad, and I'm unsure if he survived. When this happens the ranchers contanct each other and plan what to do to keep those pests at bay. We were warned to be careful about any injury, be it an injured human or animal.

@tielmaster7879

6/5/2025

Man, we gotta get to that source in South America

@DAngeloDaley

6/5/2025

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxq60I5RSW8&t=301">5:01</a> lets go we were the first

@randombrrrt

6/5/2025

They doing this with humans aswell

@OX_KLOPS

6/5/2025

That’s a John on the thumbnail

@Prostreetsburnoutparadise

6/5/2025

Literally the scraplets of are wrld

@Totally-average-person

6/5/2025

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxq60I5RSW8&t=12">0:12</a> wall of flesh? Wait not yet Im not ready for hard mode

@AdrienneSpradlen

6/5/2025

IT CREATES WIND ENERGY!!!

@AdrienneSpradlen

6/5/2025

GEOTHERMAL-GENERATER POWERING A HEATER CREATES UNEQUAL-HEATING WHICH CREATES WIND!!!

@lodielieb8482

6/5/2025

Humans are crazy

@crimsonraven3335

6/5/2025

It feels like dead island was based off this😂

@Admiral_Yasuke

6/5/2025

Cool, let’s do the same for mosquitos and wasps.

@olagarto1917

6/5/2025

there is no way that injecting huge populations of extra mutant flys into already infested arias wold make the problem better, maybe the vid got too simplified or some important info got lost in the prosses, or the whole ideia is bogus

@olagarto1917

6/5/2025

the ideia that random genetic , caused by a wide assalt on the gene, wold just target gamets is ridiculous

@olagarto1917

6/5/2025

and you belive it?

@Sunny-Smiles1234

6/5/2025

That was interesting 😮

@AhmedDanjuma

6/5/2025

Everyday we live not even aware of what's coming for us

@hopegordon8630

6/5/2025

Him voice is so comforting ☺️

@tiny99990

6/5/2025

So the wall failed before the U.S. demolished it's science budgets, and foreign aid budgets (likely a key budget in funding this war) now it is barrelling towards the U.S.when there is little to no funding to even slow it down. The U.S. has placed tariffs on Mexican goods including animal meat (the cost of which is being felt in the border states in the U.S.) meaning there may be a surplus of animals unbutchered while waiting for new buyers, which of course would be extremely beneficial for these flies to invade and flourish, and continue their way north to the U.S. where the true invasion across the Mexican border will start... neat that sounds like a jolly time that will likely demolish animal meat production in Mexico, and in the U.S. by 2028 which is before anything could be done in the U.S. to reverse the issue of funding the war against this parasite. yaaaaaayyyyyyyyy