Flying in the Face of it by The Dinah Project - Blog 5:00 pm / 31 March 2008
Although I’m not always sure what value animal studies bring to our understanding of human sexual behaviour, here is one study that I just can’t resist mentioning.
A bunch of neuroscientists at Penn State (Kyung-An Han, et al.) have been getting fruit flies drunk and watching how they go about their business.
First we learn from the research that this team of scientists is not the first to get fruit flies drunk; they simply found a method to induce a state of constant inebriation using ethanol over many days, rather than the accepted method of a one-time smash-up. Considering that fruit flies typically live a little over 2 weeks in total, spending a week or so pissed would easily make them into alcoholics. This raises a whole new level of debate on the question of the cruelty of animal experimentation. But this is not even the strangest part of the story.
As it turns out, drunken male flies will start picking up other boy flies when they’ve gone over their limit. (I believe the term that the research team uses is “ethanol-induced inter-male courtship”).
Now just think about this. With six legs and a couple of wings, an uninvited, drunken come-on can be quite a frightful thing, especially if it’s not the way you swing. Or fly. But something about this level of drunkenness affects the male flies’ sexual arousal and it decreases their inhibition and next thing you know, it’s a frat party with a difference.
The researchers, of course, are thrilled with their findings. According to them, this demonstrates how sexual tendencies, which are believed to be determined during the developmental stage of life, can be powerfully influenced by the environment. Just think of the interesting coalitions that can come out of this.
A bunch of neuroscientists at Penn State (Kyung-An Han, et al.) have been getting fruit flies drunk and watching how they go about their business.
First we learn from the research that this team of scientists is not the first to get fruit flies drunk; they simply found a method to induce a state of constant inebriation using ethanol over many days, rather than the accepted method of a one-time smash-up. Considering that fruit flies typically live a little over 2 weeks in total, spending a week or so pissed would easily make them into alcoholics. This raises a whole new level of debate on the question of the cruelty of animal experimentation. But this is not even the strangest part of the story.
As it turns out, drunken male flies will start picking up other boy flies when they’ve gone over their limit. (I believe the term that the research team uses is “ethanol-induced inter-male courtship”).
Now just think about this. With six legs and a couple of wings, an uninvited, drunken come-on can be quite a frightful thing, especially if it’s not the way you swing. Or fly. But something about this level of drunkenness affects the male flies’ sexual arousal and it decreases their inhibition and next thing you know, it’s a frat party with a difference.
The researchers, of course, are thrilled with their findings. According to them, this demonstrates how sexual tendencies, which are believed to be determined during the developmental stage of life, can be powerfully influenced by the environment. Just think of the interesting coalitions that can come out of this.
