Scientists from Université de Rennes use an usual organism for their research, the sub-Antarctic wingless fly, Anatalanta aptera. This fly is interesting because it has a long imaginal life thus offering a good model to study evolution and senescence. A study recently published in Biology Letters showed that contrary to expectation older flies recovered better after experiencing cold temperatures. According to the authors, “our results both challenge the generality of the prediction that ageing impairs rather than improves performance in thermal biology and highlight the scarcity of studies on the subject.”