camwyn: Me in a bomber jacket and jeans standing next to a green two-man North Andover Flight Academy helicopter. (boogly pupils)
camwyn ([personal profile] camwyn) wrote2002-09-18 12:01 pm

If this isn't mad science,

I don't know what is...

When flies get fruity

BBC World News - Scientists can turn the homosexual tendencies of laboratory flies on and off at the flick of a switch.

Researchers introduced a mutant gene into the fruit flies that is sensitive to temperature.

When the insects were warmed above 30 Celsius, communication between a particular set of nerve cells was disrupted.

This made the mutant males less interested in courting female flies and open to the advances of other males.

The flies reverted back to heterosexual courtship behaviours at cooler temperatures.


There's more, of course; the rest of it is at the link above.

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