1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:06,840 Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh Clark, 2 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:11,880 Speaker 1: There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant. Jerry's buzzing around out there somewhere. 3 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:15,560 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, uh, and this is short stuff. Like I 4 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:19,880 Speaker 1: think I said, yeah, the seats fly something that if 5 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:22,520 Speaker 1: if you took high school biology, you talked about these 6 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:26,759 Speaker 1: little fellows, the what fly, the CTS fly. I thought 7 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:29,640 Speaker 1: we were talking about fruit flies. Isn't that the CTS fly? 8 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:32,920 Speaker 1: I don't think so. Is that different? Yeah, I'm pretty sure. 9 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:35,440 Speaker 1: I always thought that CTS fly was the same thing 10 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:37,599 Speaker 1: as the fruit fly. Now no, because I think the 11 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:40,280 Speaker 1: tt C fly is that how you say it? Um 12 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:46,400 Speaker 1: gives like passes around dangai fever. Oh well, just never mind, then, everybody, 13 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:50,000 Speaker 1: what we're really talking about is the fruit fly a 14 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:54,600 Speaker 1: k a. The dress off ala. And it's impossible to 15 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:58,640 Speaker 1: read this next word without reading it like like this, Uh, 16 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:04,680 Speaker 1: Melano gangster, But it's not gangster, unfortunately, it's Milano Gaster. Yeah. 17 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:09,600 Speaker 1: Most people call him Josaphila though. Oh I've always heard 18 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:13,200 Speaker 1: droop now, oh man, I don't know now that you 19 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:15,440 Speaker 1: say that. I've never heard it out loud. I've always 20 00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:18,560 Speaker 1: seen it in writing. So when you said most people 21 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:21,520 Speaker 1: say it that way, you just lied. So what I 22 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:24,680 Speaker 1: mean is, oh my gosh, yeah, I totally just did. 23 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:27,360 Speaker 1: Thank you for calling me out for that, just in 24 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:30,520 Speaker 1: the lying machine, apparently because I didn't realize that they're 25 00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 1: Milano gangsters no matter what. Okay, so we're talking, let's 26 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:38,560 Speaker 1: just call him fruit flies. How about that flies? But 27 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:40,560 Speaker 1: there is a bunch and by the way, t flies 28 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:44,280 Speaker 1: are large biting fly, so there's definitely not these. Um. 29 00:01:44,959 --> 00:01:47,039 Speaker 1: Now we have to do a short stuff on those guys. 30 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:51,640 Speaker 1: Thanks Chuck. Literally, uh, probably one eighth of the show 31 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: is now misinformation. So, um, fruit flies specifically, how did 32 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:01,080 Speaker 1: you say it? Drosophila That's what I said. It's much 33 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:03,200 Speaker 1: more beautiful than what I said, so I'm gonna go 34 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 1: with that too. You know, most people say Drosophila um. 35 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:11,760 Speaker 1: Those particular kinds of fruit flies, Drosophila melang Melana gaster. 36 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:16,640 Speaker 1: They are um widely used in scientific experiments, and it 37 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:19,160 Speaker 1: turns out it's a lot of people know that we 38 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:23,840 Speaker 1: use fruit flies and experiments. They've actually bestowed a tremendous 39 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 1: amount of information to us humans um through their biology, 40 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 1: through their genetics, through the very the very the very existence. 41 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:36,160 Speaker 1: We owe a great debt to them scientifically because a 42 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:40,080 Speaker 1: lot of them have been asked to sacrifice their lives 43 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:44,839 Speaker 1: in the for the furtherance of human knowledge. Yeah, and 44 00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:47,080 Speaker 1: there's a bunch of reasons, which we're gonna get to 45 00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:49,400 Speaker 1: kind of here and there in a sec But you 46 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:55,000 Speaker 1: dug up this kind of interesting bit from February v 47 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:59,120 Speaker 1: two rocket full to the brim, well not full to 48 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:02,000 Speaker 1: the brim, but a lot of fruit flies were loaded 49 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:05,519 Speaker 1: up on this thing, traveled sixty seven miles up into 50 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:09,519 Speaker 1: the air, which is technically uh an altitude, which is 51 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:14,519 Speaker 1: one mile into actual space according to NASA. And they 52 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:18,040 Speaker 1: were the very first animals to go into space. Yeah, 53 00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:21,959 Speaker 1: and they actually survived that trip um and not one 54 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:24,840 Speaker 1: of like they were the first animal and they were 55 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:28,519 Speaker 1: they were like a test animal to see. Scientists were like, well, 56 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:30,360 Speaker 1: no one's ever been to space. We have no idea 57 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:32,560 Speaker 1: what happens out there. Maybe these things are gonna come 58 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:35,440 Speaker 1: back all mutated and everything. And when they didn't, when 59 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:38,360 Speaker 1: they actually survived the flight and the re entry um, 60 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:41,080 Speaker 1: they said, oh, well, let's start sending more larger animals 61 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 1: up and they did, and eventually we ended up on 62 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:48,680 Speaker 1: humans and that's what we're sending up these days. That's right. 63 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 1: But it was very instructive to see those flies come 64 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 1: back without you know, seven eyeballs or or twice the 65 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:59,280 Speaker 1: size or ten times the size they were. They were fine, 66 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 1: they didn't hulk out. Yeah. And by that yeah, no 67 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: purple ripped pants to be found. Um by that time bye. 68 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:11,400 Speaker 1: They had actually been used in biological studies for well 69 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:15,000 Speaker 1: over a decade UM. In the nineteen thirties, in particular, 70 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:20,960 Speaker 1: they basically helped establish the field of modern genetics. UM. 71 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:26,359 Speaker 1: A guy uh named um Morgan Thomas Hunt Morgan basically 72 00:04:26,440 --> 00:04:31,599 Speaker 1: showed that inheritance has passed along via chromosomes using a 73 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:34,080 Speaker 1: fruit fly study, and he did it in months rather 74 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:37,919 Speaker 1: than years that his other fellow early geneticists took to 75 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:40,320 Speaker 1: to prove their studies and actually end up winning a 76 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:43,960 Speaker 1: Nobel Prize for it. And in fact, at least five 77 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:49,800 Speaker 1: people have won Nobel Prizes from directly working with fruit flies. Yeah, 78 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:52,120 Speaker 1: I mean, if you want a Nobel prize, not a 79 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:56,040 Speaker 1: bad place to start, that's right, Uh. And the reason why, 80 00:04:56,240 --> 00:04:57,920 Speaker 1: or maybe we should take a break and then talk 81 00:04:57,960 --> 00:05:01,479 Speaker 1: about some of the reasons why, right, after this. Yes, 82 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:24,279 Speaker 1: all right. The reasons why fruit flies are really great 83 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:28,240 Speaker 1: are multifold. One of the reasons if you're going to 84 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:33,479 Speaker 1: study genetics, what you need to study is generations, and 85 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:37,080 Speaker 1: fruit flies are really quick. They can create a new 86 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:40,719 Speaker 1: generation in about two weeks, so that means you can 87 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:45,719 Speaker 1: study generation after generation in short order. Uh. They are 88 00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:49,400 Speaker 1: very easy to breed in the lab. Um, they're small, 89 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:52,919 Speaker 1: they don't put up much of a fussy, easy to 90 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:55,920 Speaker 1: care for. Yeah, they just want a little cornstarch and 91 00:05:55,960 --> 00:06:00,560 Speaker 1: sugar soup and they're happy. Yeah little fruit maybe yeah, um, yeah, 92 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:02,240 Speaker 1: you don't even have to give them fruit. That's really 93 00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:06,240 Speaker 1: corn Starch and sugar soup is fine with them. But yeah, ultimately, 94 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:09,080 Speaker 1: I'm sure they prefer the real deal, you know. But 95 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:11,880 Speaker 1: if they're being raised in a lab their entire life 96 00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:15,520 Speaker 1: and countless generations that they of their lineage before them 97 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:17,480 Speaker 1: have been raised in a lab, they'll take the corn 98 00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:20,640 Speaker 1: starch and sugar soup if that's all they can get. Right. 99 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:23,680 Speaker 1: But why, why, my friend, if you're going to study 100 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:27,200 Speaker 1: human genetics, would would you even bother looking at a 101 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:30,599 Speaker 1: fruit fly? Well that's a great question, Chuck, And the 102 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:33,640 Speaker 1: answer to it is that we share a surprising number 103 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:38,200 Speaker 1: of genes with fruit flies. Um. Apparently eight thousand of 104 00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:41,880 Speaker 1: our twenty thousand to twenty five thousand genes are analogous 105 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:46,599 Speaker 1: to fruit fly genes. Yeah, so if you study those 106 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:50,720 Speaker 1: genes and fruit flies, you can extrapolate to humans. You know, 107 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:53,120 Speaker 1: what they do, what happens when you poke them with 108 00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:56,440 Speaker 1: a whatever, Um, what happens if you shine a light 109 00:06:56,480 --> 00:07:00,440 Speaker 1: on them, if you're doing an optogenetic study. Um. That 110 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:04,080 Speaker 1: there's a lot of questions that we've answered through genetics 111 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:08,039 Speaker 1: because of that benefit of having similar genes. And apparently 112 00:07:08,120 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 1: sev of the genes known to cause diseases in humans 113 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:16,800 Speaker 1: are are are shared between humans and fruit flies too. 114 00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:20,000 Speaker 1: It's so cool. Another cool thing you can do if 115 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:22,440 Speaker 1: you want to say, oh, I don't know, Like, what 116 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:26,760 Speaker 1: if you live in the Arctic and you're always or 117 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:31,080 Speaker 1: the greater northern climates of Canada and you're just basically 118 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:32,640 Speaker 1: cold all the time. What is that going to do 119 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 1: to your gene activity in your metabolism. Well, let's put 120 00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:40,120 Speaker 1: two thousand fruit flies in a in a chamber and 121 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:42,480 Speaker 1: make it super cold all the time and look at 122 00:07:42,520 --> 00:07:44,680 Speaker 1: them and see what happens. You can get a large 123 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:49,280 Speaker 1: population study very very easily because these little fellas are 124 00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:52,720 Speaker 1: so tiny. Yeah. They also share, in addition to genes, 125 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:55,720 Speaker 1: a lot of the same biochemical pathways that humans have 126 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:58,920 Speaker 1: to UM. One example I saw is that they don't 127 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:02,679 Speaker 1: actually get Alzheimer's, but they have all of the same 128 00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:09,440 Speaker 1: pathways and and brain structures that Alzheimer's um befalls in humans. 129 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:13,160 Speaker 1: So we can study those pathways and try to treat 130 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:16,760 Speaker 1: Alzheimer's just by looking at UM these these pathways and 131 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:20,560 Speaker 1: these brain structures in fruit flies. Yeah. I also thought 132 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:22,720 Speaker 1: it was funny when you look at the downside of 133 00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:26,920 Speaker 1: fruit flies. Aside from just some of the genetic components, 134 00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:30,280 Speaker 1: the biggest downside, it seems like, is that their fruit 135 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:33,439 Speaker 1: flies and fruit flies are super annoying. They really are 136 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:37,800 Speaker 1: very annoying. Um there apparently what's called cosmopolitan species. So 137 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:41,440 Speaker 1: wherever humans are, they're going to be there too. And 138 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:45,439 Speaker 1: the reason why is apparently because we live in conditions 139 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:49,440 Speaker 1: that they find very suitable, like moderate temperatures that are 140 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:53,120 Speaker 1: fairly stable, and we like fruit too, and sometimes we 141 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:55,760 Speaker 1: leave our fruit out and it gets a little past ripe, 142 00:08:55,760 --> 00:08:59,040 Speaker 1: and the fruit flies say thank you, sir or madam 143 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:02,960 Speaker 1: they doff their little top hat, um, click their heels 144 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:06,120 Speaker 1: together with their spats, and they go to town on 145 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:10,280 Speaker 1: that juicy banana, which I guess if you have a 146 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:13,960 Speaker 1: juicy banana you want to throw that now. Yeah, but 147 00:09:14,080 --> 00:09:15,880 Speaker 1: did you see that listener mail by the way, about 148 00:09:15,880 --> 00:09:20,400 Speaker 1: the banana bread banana. Someone emailed about something you said, 149 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:23,080 Speaker 1: and I said that I think one of the big 150 00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:26,160 Speaker 1: reasons too, is because they get really really sweet. Mh 151 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:30,840 Speaker 1: is why you want to use an old banana. But anyway, 152 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:34,640 Speaker 1: the fruit flies love all that stuff. So if you 153 00:09:34,720 --> 00:09:38,600 Speaker 1: live near a dumpster, unfortunately for you, which I did 154 00:09:38,760 --> 00:09:42,080 Speaker 1: in my apartment in Los Angeles, had a dumpster behind 155 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:44,439 Speaker 1: my apartment, which is where I found my cat Luran, 156 00:09:44,559 --> 00:09:49,079 Speaker 1: by the way, it wasn't all that Or if you compost, 157 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:52,079 Speaker 1: God help you. Um it's a great thing to do. 158 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:54,040 Speaker 1: But you're going to be dealing with some fruit flies, 159 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:57,360 Speaker 1: you are. And again, I mean, there's really not a 160 00:09:57,440 --> 00:10:01,560 Speaker 1: lot besides annoyance that fruit flies vide humans like. They 161 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:06,280 Speaker 1: don't transfer or transmit communicable diseases and not a disease vector. 162 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:09,079 Speaker 1: And on the on the flip side of that, they've 163 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:15,080 Speaker 1: actually stood in as models for um disease carrying insects, 164 00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:19,080 Speaker 1: Like we know a lot about how mosquitoes transmit disease 165 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:24,920 Speaker 1: by studying fruit flies as models. So they basically annoy us. 166 00:10:24,920 --> 00:10:29,360 Speaker 1: But they've furthered our, understanding and medicine in countless ways. 167 00:10:29,679 --> 00:10:31,920 Speaker 1: And yet we're still like, yeah, but they're annoying, you 168 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:35,199 Speaker 1: know what I mean? Yeah, you know that's so human 169 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:38,400 Speaker 1: it is. But they're not like that rat, the c 170 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:45,240 Speaker 1: fly now dan gay fever spreading mofo uh. And apparently 171 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:48,800 Speaker 1: if you you know, if you do compost like inside 172 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:50,600 Speaker 1: and you have a even if you have a thing 173 00:10:50,640 --> 00:10:52,520 Speaker 1: with the lid, they're gonna gather around. You can set 174 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:55,400 Speaker 1: up a little little vinegar jar like a canning jar 175 00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:58,320 Speaker 1: with vinegar at the bottom, uh, and then a top 176 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:01,520 Speaker 1: made of plastic wrap with some holes in there, and 177 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:04,640 Speaker 1: you can trap them and even remove them safely. I 178 00:11:04,679 --> 00:11:06,800 Speaker 1: think if you want, yeah, just throw them out in 179 00:11:06,840 --> 00:11:09,680 Speaker 1: the yard and say, go find a juicy banana because 180 00:11:09,720 --> 00:11:12,160 Speaker 1: I don't want it. Although it is true you can 181 00:11:12,280 --> 00:11:15,840 Speaker 1: use those for banana bread. I forgot. Yeah, so fruit 182 00:11:15,840 --> 00:11:17,800 Speaker 1: flyes ahoy. The next time you see a fruit fly, 183 00:11:17,880 --> 00:11:20,640 Speaker 1: don't swat at it, say thank you fruit fly. Your 184 00:11:20,720 --> 00:11:24,320 Speaker 1: kind has been very beneficent to my kind and I 185 00:11:24,360 --> 00:11:29,240 Speaker 1: appreciate it. That's right and said since Chuck said that's 186 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:35,640 Speaker 1: right and tapped his watch, Short Stuff is out. Stuff 187 00:11:35,679 --> 00:11:37,760 Speaker 1: you Should Know is a production of iHeart Radios How 188 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:40,800 Speaker 1: Stuff Works. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the 189 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:43,680 Speaker 1: iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 190 00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:44,520 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.