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I'm wondering if maybe I should declare tomorrow International Drosophila melanogaster Appreciation Day. The humble fruit fly has done so much for the field of genetic research, we owe those little guys big time.
I'm currently wearing one of those expressions people wear when they've done something they know is a bit naughty, but they think it's funny enough that they don't really care.
You see *giggles mischievously* I now have 4 pet Drosophila. It was meant to be 5, but one escaped while I was transferring them to their spacious new empty coffee jar home. They're wild type (it would have been easier to get hold of the white-eyed vestigial-winged mutants, but they were horrible little creatures) and seem to consist of 3 females and a male (harem!!), although I could be wrong.
We were doing experiments and we got to knock them out, but most of the ones we knocked out we had to kill afterwards. The rest ended up in our breeding experiments (by god, those critters are horny; they'd been awake for all of five minutes, and already the males were all over the virgin females!!). Somehow, I don't think the lab staff will notice the loss of 5. Or even the loss of the twenty I accidentally released while getting the five. Technically, we're not supposed to release lab Drosophila into the wild (gene mutants, or something). But considering there's still snow on the ground, these little dudes are weak and puny as anything, and the fact that half of them could only just fly, I imagine they'll all be dead by sunset. So don't worry; the world isn't about to be overrun with X-Men Fruit Flies.
I'm currently wearing one of those expressions people wear when they've done something they know is a bit naughty, but they think it's funny enough that they don't really care.
You see *giggles mischievously* I now have 4 pet Drosophila. It was meant to be 5, but one escaped while I was transferring them to their spacious new empty coffee jar home. They're wild type (it would have been easier to get hold of the white-eyed vestigial-winged mutants, but they were horrible little creatures) and seem to consist of 3 females and a male (harem!!), although I could be wrong.
We were doing experiments and we got to knock them out, but most of the ones we knocked out we had to kill afterwards. The rest ended up in our breeding experiments (by god, those critters are horny; they'd been awake for all of five minutes, and already the males were all over the virgin females!!). Somehow, I don't think the lab staff will notice the loss of 5. Or even the loss of the twenty I accidentally released while getting the five. Technically, we're not supposed to release lab Drosophila into the wild (gene mutants, or something). But considering there's still snow on the ground, these little dudes are weak and puny as anything, and the fact that half of them could only just fly, I imagine they'll all be dead by sunset. So don't worry; the world isn't about to be overrun with X-Men Fruit Flies.
