Thursday, August 19, 2021

Fruit Flies Choose Food Over Sex When Deprived of Both

Scientists identified competing neural pathways that control flies' decision making.

Image credits: Alexlky/Shutterstock

Fruit Flies Choose Food Over Sex When Deprived of Both

Scientists identified competing neural pathways that control flies' decision making.

Karen Kwon, Contributor

August 18, 2021

                                                                                                                                                                         

(Inside Science) -- Life is about making one choice after another. Should you have Italian for dinner or Vietnamese? Should you go camping with your friends this weekend or chill at home with your cat?


Many choices aren't a matter of life or death, but sometimes they are, as was the case for the fruit flies that neuroscientist Carolina Rezaval and her team studied. When the team gave male fruit flies a choice between food and sex after denying them both for 24 hours, the flies chose sugar water over a potential mate. The team also discovered competing neural pathways that direct the flies to either eat or mate, based on how hungry they are...

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