Related topics: current biology · fruit flies

Speaking up for the annoying fruit fly

Fruit flies can be truly annoying when they are buzzing around your living room or landing in your wine. But we have much to thank these tiny nuisances for—they revolutionized biological and medical science.

How mechanical tearing cuts neural connections in the fruit fly

Scientists from the Institute of Neuro- and Behavioral Biology at Münster University have been studying the regulated removal of neural connections in the model system of the Drosophila fruit fly. They find that mechanical ...

CRISPR-based technology targets global crop pest

Applying new CRISPR-based technology to a broad agricultural need, researchers at the University of California San Diego have set their aims on a worldwide pest known to decimate valuable food crops.

Can a parasitic wasp save your fruit crops?

The wasp species Asobara japonica (A. japonica) is a parasitic organism, meaning it sustains its life by hijacking resources from a host such as the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. The wasp mother can secrete a venom full ...

Unfolding the blindness proteins through fly eyes

Every 6 minutes someone is told they're going blind. One of the major causes of human blindness is a disease called Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), which causes progressive degeneration of the retina and vision loss. Approximately ...

Freezing fruit flies for future function

The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has long been an important experimental model for biological research. While you may be eager to rid your kitchen of this unwanted pest, researchers in Japan have developed a new technique ...

Wolbachia and the paradox of growth regulation

Despite having been formalized as a species in 1936, Wolbachia pipientis remains an elusive microbe. The reason why relates to the relationship it establishes with its hosts. Wolbachia lives inside the cells of 40% of the ...

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