Your Tax Dollars at Work

Ever wondered about the correlation between lack of sex for fruit flies and their propensity to have a couple of beers? That's evidently a burning question for scientists at the University of California San Francisco who have NIH grant funding (that's my money and your money) for this research project. I don't know how much they got -- the article didn't say -- but according to figures released by the NIH, the University received more research funds from the National Institutes of Health than any other public institution in 2011: 1,056 grants, totaling $532.8 million.

So what have they found? Thousands of male fruit flies were placed one by one into a container with an unwilling female fruit fly. Each fruit fly was given three hours with the reluctant lady four days in a row. Then the disappointed males were put into vials and given a choice of regular food or alcohol-laced food. They went for the alcohol.

Now, doesn't that information enhance your quality of life?

"Spurned fruit flies' boozing may say a lot about men." The Dallas Morning News; March 16, 2012; p. 6A.