Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Science of sexuality: fruity fruitflies



According to a New Scientist report based on a paper published in Nature Neuroscience...male fruitflies use pheromones to avoid mating with other males. The ability to detect these pheromones can be altered with drugs that affect the strength of nerve-cell junctions in the brain. Males that are unable to detect these pheromones, in turn, mate with one another. Thus, the propensity of male fruitflies to engage in homosexual matings appear to be based on the detection of pheromonal cues. Fascinating!

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