Fruit Flies Take Medicinal Nips

[slimvictor]

We’re not the only animals that like to knock back the hard stuff. Studies have shown that some mammals seek out food and drink that naturally contains alcohol. And according to new research, fruit flies will purposely hit the bottle: to self-medicate.

Fruit fly larvae eat rotting and fermenting fruit. The tiny insects have developed strong alcohol resistance. Which comes in handy when faced with parasitic wasps.

Scientists studied two species of wasps that lay their eggs inside fruit fly larvae. When the wasps hatch, they eat the fruit flies from the inside out. But when the flies have consumed extra alcohol, the wasps have a tougher time depositing their young among the larvae. And even if they do manage to infect the fruit fly larvae, not as many wasps survive in the presence of alcohol.

In the new study, scientists found that the fruit flies seek out alcohol when they become infected—in effect, as anti-wasp medicine.

cont at
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=fruit-flies-take-medicinal-nips-12-02-16

 

[NeighborhoodThreat]

That's awesome.

There's a reason these chemicals exist on planet Earth.

 

[Druidus]

That's awesome.

I agree.

There's a reason these chemicals exist on planet Earth.

Yes, if you mean physics has caused them to exist as your only reason. The universe was not made for humanity, not constructed carefully for you or I. That's just fallaciously anthropocentric logic. Even merely biocentric logic is still fallacious. Alcohol exists for chemical/physical reasons, it can be used to modify an animal's neurochemistry in cases where evolution has adapted their brain structure, function, and chemistry to do so. It only makes sense that chemicals native to the reality/world you evolved in are able to alter your functioning, they are inherent parts of the system you arose from. Don't kid yourself, nature cares nothing for you individually; that your environment allows you to use parts of itself to advantageously alter your neurochemistry, occasionally, why, that's as normal as suns forming under physical law, or the lawsof the universe (governing such things as gravity or electromagnetism) allowing for your existence to eventually come about. Just because something exists doesn't mean it was made to be used by you by some entity. Mere Existence does not imply intentional existence.

Also, with these fruit flies... I couldn't read the whole article here, but it's very interesting. Still, I question whether ethanol has analogous pleasurable cognitive effects on a fruit fly, and I would also point out that being able to digest ethanol (with its doubled calories relative to sugar) safely is highly adaptively advantageous on its own, without necessitating further benefit. Also, fruit flies constantly hunt for ethanol, just pour some wine or vodka near them. They eat yeast. It pisses ethanol. Thus, go to ethanol to find the yeast that made it, from the fly's point of view.

That said, that they spontaneously seek it out (presumably with more vigour than the norm) when they become infected, well, that's just very intriguing, and indicates that there may be something here. Are there other environmental toxins that they seek out for similar effects, I wonder...

 

[slimvictor]

I think you may have overreacted to NT's comment, or to what you perceived lay behind it.

NT never said that drugs exist for him/her personally or individually, as you argue against.

I don't believe that we have to interpret what s/he said as anthropocentric, either. (Certain) chemicals exist on earth for the functions they serve, of which one portion may be (humans or other animals) "getting high". Nothing anthropocentric about that. Do you consider it biocentric to include mention of a chemical's function on biological organisms as a motivation for the existence of the chemical? That is not biocentric, I would argue, but simply allows for the symbiotic relationship between the earth and creatures living on the earth to play a role in the evolution and creation of various chemical forms.

In any case, whether some God/god made the chemicals, or they developed "naturally" (as if a God would be unnatural!) because of certain chemical reactions, finding a purpose in their existence hardly warrants a critical attack (civil though it was).

Not that I necessarily disagreed with you, but your tone seemed to convey that you know the truth about these fundamental issues of theology/philosophy/science, and that anyone who disagrees with you is simply wrong, or worse, ignorant.

I guess what I am saying is this: You believe that the universe is entirely random. Fine. But others have their reasons for not believing so, and we will not settle this issue here, or anywhere else in the third dimension, so let's make sure to couch our phrasing as personal opinions/philosophies, rather than as absolute truth. (Yes, science is a philosophy, and it is always changing, so to hold strongly to the idea that science always leads to the truth is dangerous.)

That said, I appreciate your critical evaluation and contribution to the discussion, so please do not take this as offensive - if it is, I have said it the wrong way, and I apologize in advance.

And, yes, I also appreciate the philosophy of science. I just try not to have a closed mind about anything, as I believe a good scientist should.

Finally, you made a good point about whether fruit flies "get drunk" or not. I think that the fact that they go back to such foods with increased vigor suggests something along these lines, but it could simply be the nutritional aspects that draw them back. It is interesting to wonder what it would mean for a fly to get drunk, psychologically.

Peace.

Victor

 

[jazz hands]

I think that what NT is referring to is the fact that lifeforms have adapted to exist around a world where such things as drugs are naturally present. The influence of chemicals on our bodies is taken into account in our genetics, and so taking a drug is not necessarily as foreign of a concept as it is made out to be by many in today's society.

 

[MikeRWK]

Watch Sex,Plants,and Drugs its about this kind of thing. Caterpillars when infected with some flies larvae will eat poisonous plant leaves.