Can I Drink Wine With a Fly in It?
WouterThere’s a good reason you shouldn’t drink wine with a fly in it. The insects can ruin the flavour and aroma of your wine. A pheromone that they emit is so powerful that one nanogram can ruin your wine. You don’t want to waste money on a bad bottle.
Flies are known to cause health issues. They have the ability to carry bacteria that are harmful to humans and pets. They pick up these bacteria from dirt and human waste. It takes a few hours before symptoms appear. Some people will experience salmonella-like symptoms, while others will develop E.coli-like symptoms one to ten days later. Luckily, these symptoms are only mild, and most healthy people will naturally fight off any bacteria in the fly.
The flies would need to know when they were infected and how to respond by drinking more alcohol. This would be difficult, because they’d need to recognize that they are infected and have a higher tolerance for alcohol than non-infected flies. These are crazy ideas that make scientists shiver.
The researchers behind the study believe alcohol affects brain cells. The fly’s brain contains a substance called neuropeptide F, which regulates how it responds to alcohol. This chemical also affects human behavior, such as eating or drinking.
