Giovanna Di Sauro

I will be back on Monday (I deserve a holiday once a year!), but in the meantime you can read this article written by yours truly, but edited and published by the Peak, Simon Fraser University’s independent newspaper. This article is more of a reflection on the results of the recent study on fruitless flies, results I have already talked about on this blog, and it has been written for a general audience. Feedback and comments are welcome.

In today’s study, scientists tried to activate certain neurons using what could basically thought of as a “light switch”, and observed females performing a characteristic male courtship song. Although the BBC suggestively calls this a “mind-control sex swap”, we are really not looking at the sex of the flies – but rather, at gender-specific behaviors.