🪰 flies…those little poop eaters are the speed-demon racers of the insect world… fearlessly buzzing giant meat bags and compulsively licking everything, and now we can add nose candy to their list of vices: “In a world first, scientists at the University of Utah have engineered fruit flies susceptible to cocaine addiction. But as strange as it sounds, there are potentially life-saving reasons for genetically altering the insects to crave the drug. The novel biological model could help addiction treatment therapies development and expedite research timelines. The findings are detailed in the Journal of Neuroscience. Insects are evolutionarily primed to avoid plant toxins, and cocaine is a plant toxin,” Philyaw explained. “They have taste receptors on their ‘arms’—their tarsal segments—so they can put their hand in something before it goes in their mouth, and decide, ‘I’m not going to touch that.’”—Popular Science …news like this needs to be archived for future generations, so we have the origin story for the giant mutant Coke-snorting fruit flies that terrorize the future. As surprising as it may sound, humans have a lot in common with fruit flies. In fact, we share around 70–75 percent of the same genes responsible for various diseases, as well as many of the same vital organs. Researchers have relied on the insects for genetic studies for years, especially for investigating the biological roots of certain addictions like cocaine abuse. This is due in large part to the fruit fly’s quick life cycle and its comparatively simple genetic makeup. But while scientists have administered the drug to the bugs in the past, there’s always been a small problem. “Flies don’t like cocaine one bit,” Adrian Rothenfluh, the study’s senior author and an associate professor of psychiatry, said in a statement. ⁣ .⁣ .⁣ .⁣ .⁣ .⁣ #Forbiddenfutures ⚛︎ #Insects ⚛︎ #Insectsofinstagram ⚛︎ #Lepidoptera ⚛︎ #Macro ⚛︎ #Macromood ⚛︎ #Macrophoto ⚛︎ #Macrophotography ⚛︎ #Macroworld ⚛︎ #Mantis ⚛︎ #Moth ⚛︎ #Moths ⚛︎ #Naturelover ⚛︎ #Oddness___ ⚛︎ #Pollinators ⚛︎ #Wildlife ⚛︎ #Wildlifephotography ⚛︎