Hox genes make sure all your body parts grow in the right place. Understanding how they work can reveal the process of evolution and lead to potential treatments for congenital birth defects.
Astrocytes: these cells could be part of the key to unlocking the mystery of how brains change their structure.
Kateryna Kon/Shutterstock
From the archive: new research helps unpick clues about the brain’s ability to change its structure. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.
The colors in this microscope photo of a fruit fly brain show different types of neurons and the cells that surround them in the brain.
Sarah DeGenova Ackerman
Adaptable neurons are tied to learning and memory but also to neurological disorders. By studying fruit flies, researchers found a mechanism that controls neuroplasticity.
Sleeping on the job?
Maciej Olszewski/Shutterstock
The Mediterranean fruit fly can evolve rapidly to different environmental conditions, this suggests it will be well suited to cope with climate change.
David Suzuki is an environmental activist, broadcaster and globally recognized geneticist.
David Suzuki Foundation
David Suzuki may be best known as an environmental activist and the face of CBC’s ‘The Nature of Things,’ but he’s also a globally recognized scientist.
A new study suggests that high blood-sugar levels are an effect rather than a cause of type 2 diabetes.
A scourge of kitchens everywhere, Drosophila melanogaster — the common fruit fly — stares down the electron microscope that captured its image.
(Shutterstock)
Detecting drier or wetter conditions is crucial for insect survival. We’ve long known they can do this – now researchers have discovered the genetic and neural basis for their humidity-sensing system.
Fruit flies aren’t just a remarkable organism for research. They are also central to a project that aims to provide more at-home research opportunities for African scientists.
Decreasing funding for fruit-fly research will hurt people, not flies.
John Tann
These insects are so much more than just the scourge of fruit bowls everywhere. They’re a key model system for all kinds of research that teaches us about our own brain and body systems.
You and me have quite a few genes in common.
André Karwath
The next time you start loading up on food rich in antioxidants at the grocery store, know that you are not alone in the animal world. Other animals such as birds and fruit flies are health conscious too…
If you have a Facebook account, you are likely to have seen someone pour an ice bucket on themselves in the name of raising awareness for amyotropic lateral sclerosis (ALS). ALS is a disease that affects…
Animals have evolved to occupy almost all corners of the Earth. To survive, no matter the weather outside, they all need temperature-sensitive bodily reactions to work. This is easy for warm-blooded animals…