Slashdot Mirror
Sexually Rejected Flies Turn To Booze
sciencehabit writes "Offer a male fruit fly a choice between food soaked in alcohol and its nonalcoholic equivalent, and his decision will depend on whether he's mated recently or been rejected by a female. Flies that have been given the cold shoulder are more likely to go for the booze, researchers have found. It's the first discovery, in fruit flies, of a social interaction that influences future behavior."
I guess if I were a sexually-deprived fly I would be drinking too... just like I do as a sexually-deprived basement dweller
This is a UDP joke, I don't care if you get it or not...
It's just to make the un-attractive fruit flies around look better.
Probably like most /. readers, he needs the alcohol to get up the nerve to approach the female fly.
... fruit flies like a bottle of booze.
Nerdy fly fetishes of the world, your time is now! The fly on fly doggy style action shot is just...
::notices the wife unit enter the room::
Uh... oh... hi honey! Oh no, I only read ScienceMag for the articles... !
...do the flies give up and turn to World of Warcraft?
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
It must suck to be sexually rejected AND lack hands.
Have gnu, will travel.
people die, yet we study the drinking habits of fruit-fly
There are over 75,000 alcohol related deaths per year in the U.S. alone. Is that enough to warrant some research?
another drunk
Except they identified a particular protein that is created in these depressed males that causes them to turn to alcohol. Considering ~50% of fly proteins have homologs in humans, it may be a good target for drugs in the future. Still think it's a useless study?