Researchers studying stalk-eyed fruit flies observed that, when new adults emerge from their pupal shell, their eye stalks were short and translucent (A). About 16 minutes later, the flies rub their eye stalks with their forelegs, and the eye stalks begin to elongate asymmetrically while the flies wiggle their bodies (B-G). The researchers reported they could see nerves within the translucent eye stalks and that the stalks fill with body fluids as they elongate and straighten (G). Once the eye stalks straighten, they begin to darken and harden (H, I). The entire process takes just over 2 hours. (Image originally published in Huangfu et al 2022, Annals of the Entomological Society of America)