Flies. Ew.
Man they’re a pain in the ass.
But apparently if you hang out with them you get a Nobel Prize?!
6 Nobel Prizes were awarded to researchers that use fruit flies!
They have short life spans, 40 to 50 days, but can reproduce several times in that span.
They also share 60% of the same DNA as us, which makes me think DNA is a bit over rated… They’ve also been to space! I guess fruit flies are the shit.
So this latest prize was awarded to Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael Young in physiology or medicine for their work on the molecular mechanisms that control circadian rhythms.
I like this idea.
Especially now that we are quarantining and staying at home because I am all out of wack. Who really knows what day it is?
I thought the best representation of this would be a clock. So I dug around my building and found an old clock made by my fiancé’s grandfather the year I was born.
I then proceeded to put my crap all over it.
Then I made a bunch of fruit flies. A bunch. Which I guess is also a fun exercise of time.
Just trying to fully appreciate these little guys.
I like the idea of something so small playing such a large role in our experiments and discoveries. You never really know what will make a new connection. I think that this is where art and science really merge. In being creative and trying something new you learn twice as fast. Who knows what discoveries could be made if scientists and artists could collaborate. Not that my work is this... just sort of a goal of mine, that one day these collaborations will be possible.
It's been so much fun to try something new and make something just for the sake of making it. I hope you've enjoyed it!
Here are some of my resources I used! Which is really half the fun...
Nobel Prize website:
YES! They have a website! With videos! From the winners! Explaining their experiments and other things in depth. I'm so excited about this find.
Ologies Podcast: Chronobiology
This is one of my favorite podcasts ever. And this episode gave me so much to think about in terms of circadian rhythms and trying to hack my own life.