Fruit fly's response to starvation could help control human appetites
Thursday, March 31, 2011 - 12:31
in Biology & Nature
Biologists have identified the molecular mechanisms triggered by starvation in fruit flies that enhance the nervous system's response to smell, allowing these insects and presumably vertebrates -- including humans -- to become more efficient and voracious foragers when hungry. Their discovery of the neural changes that control odor-driven food searches in flies could provide a new way to potentially regulate human appetite.