- September 21, 2013
- 9:30 am
- Raymond Benton Jr
- no comments
A Brief Study in Contrasts
I am cleaning off my computer’s desktop today and ran across this brief note to myself. It is an interesting, if short, study in contrasts. The story showed up on ENN (Environmental News Network) and I somehow kept it for some reason. It is almost a year old, but still relevant.
Fruit Flies and Alcoholism
ENN (Environmental News Network
December 19, 2012 08:12 AM
Drosophila is a genus of small flies whose members are often called fruit flies, a reference to the characteristic of many species to linger around overripe or rotting fruit. One species of Drosophila in particular, D. melanogaster, has been heavily used in research in genetics and is a common model organism in developmental biology. Scientists have shown how the common fruit fly Drosophila, which possess similar electrophysiological and pharmacological properties as humans, could now be used to screen and develop new therapies for alcohol-related behavioural disorders and some genetic diseases. Researchers from the University’s School of Physiology and Pharmacology have been using the fruit fly to study the effects of alcohol on a particular gene found within potassium channels in the brain. The results, published in PLOS ONE, have validated the fruit fly’s compatibility with this type of analysis to pave the way for further study in this area.
On a side panel, right next to this brief piece, was a link to a second article. Its title? Fruit Flies Likely to Fall Victim to Climate Change (ENN, September 18, 2012 09:43 AM).
Go figure.