Couch Potato Gene Identified In Fruit Flies 105
Pickens writes "University of Pennsylvania biologists have discovered a mutation in fruit flies aptly named the 'couch potato' gene that allows them to simply chill out — entering a mild state of quasi-hibernation known as diapause, when winter arrives. 'It's not like they're bears sleeping in a cave,' says Paul Schmidt. 'They just look like they're a little bit more sluggish.' The couch potato gene, first discovered in the early 1990s, got its nickname because flies with mutations in the gene became really sluggish and behaved abnormally. Little is known about the underlying evolutionary genetic architecture, but in diapause, the slacking off is far less severe. The flies' bodily functions slow down, and they are better able to tolerate stress. The fruit fly gene may have implications for human health, as it can help biologists study the function of the nervous system and diseases such as epilepsy, refuting a recent statement by a political candidate that fruit fly research has 'little or nothing to do with the public good.'"
Sweet (Score:4, Funny)
I'm one step closer to getting my disability check when they identify the gene for humans. It's not laziness, it's a disease.
Time flies like an arrow... (Score:1, Funny)
Couch potatoes like a banana fritter. With syrup.
More Obama Facts (Score:4, Funny)
Did you know that...
Barack Obama's education was paid for by Saudi Arabian oil princes?
Barack Obama plans to enslave all of the hard-working, white Americans as part of black reparations?
Barack Obama paid $200,000 to the German Nazi organization UMLAUT to drive up attendance to his Berlin rally?
Michelle Obama retains her youthful look by bathing in the blood of infants?
Both Obamas are trained in the art of voodoo witchcraft?
Obama's supporters have engaged in a campaign of violence to terrorize God-fearing McCain supporters, including an underground vault where they torture and kill McCain campaign volunteers?
Obama's third-grade essay claimed that his personal heroes included Stalin, Mao, and Caligula?
The More You Know.
Re:Hmmm (Score:5, Funny)
Re:That's Nothing. (Score:1, Funny)
The name McCain is synonymous with potatoes [mccain.com].
Of course (Score:3, Funny)
That scientific paper the politician had in his hands had "couch", "potato", "fruit", "fly" and "diapause" in it.
Try publishing a paper with the words "penis", "growth", "stamina", "huge", "could beat an animal to death with it in the forest" and see how fast you get bipartisan funding.
Re:5T$ and growing from republican policies. (Score:3, Funny)
Your grand children will suffer mainly from the Bush legacy. Not fruit file research.
Yes but fruit file research will suffer for other reasons; mostly because it's very difficult to get all those oddly shaped fruits into manila folders.
Maybe this is a lesson (Score:1, Funny)
That people who don't believe in science should just stop trying to talk about it.