A recent study published in Open Biology reports that exposure to intense light almost instantly provokes courtship behavior in male fruit flies (Drosophila). Surprisingly, the researchers observed both male-male and male-female ...
Entomophthora muscae is a widespread, pathogenic fungus that survives by infecting common houseflies with deadly spores. Now, research shows that the fungus has a unique tactic to ensure its survival. The fungus "bewitches" ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 15, 2022
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4268
A combined team of researchers from the University of Copenhagen and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences reports that a certain fungus uses chemicals to trick male flies into mating with infected dead females. ...
Male flies kept awake do not die earlier than those allowed to sleep, leading researchers to question whether sleep, in flies at least, is essential for staying alive.
Molecular & Computational biology
Feb 20, 2019
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64
Flies living with their brothers cause less harm to females during courting than those living with unrelated flies, say Oxford University scientists.
Plants & Animals
Jan 22, 2014
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0
The male reproductive system serves as a hotspot for the emergence of new genes. Perhaps that explains why more new mutations are inherited from fathers than from mothers. It doesn't, however, clarify why older fathers pass ...
Evolution
Jan 12, 2023
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46
Choosiness will lead to the best offspring. Being too choosy, however, could in the end result in no offspring at all. Female fruit flies have a solution to this dilemma.
Plants & Animals
Jun 22, 2021
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12
Fruit flies have found at least two solutions to the problem of sorting their sex chromosomes: a matter of life and death.
Evolution
Jun 18, 2021
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6
Males may have shorter lifespans than females due to repetitive sections of the Y chromosome that create toxic effects as males get older. These new findings appear in a study by Doris Bachtrog of the University of California, ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 22, 2021
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411
Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have investigated how the X and Y chromosomes evolve and adapt to each other within a population. The results show that breaking up coevolved sets of sex chromosomes could lead to ...
Biotechnology
Mar 25, 2021
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21
