Small Fly, Big Impact: A History of Drosophila Research (and Why It Matters)

The seemingly insignificant fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has played a leading role in our understanding of nearly every aspect of biology. This charming short film from the University of Manchester offers a quick course for those not directly familiar with T.H. Morgan’s fly room and the incredible discoveries that followed.

David Crotty

@davidacrotty

David Crotty is a Senior Consultant at Clarke & Esposito, a boutique management consulting firm focused on strategic issues related to professional and academic publishing and information services. Previously, David was the Editorial Director, Journals Policy for Oxford University Press. He oversaw journal policy across OUP’s journals program, drove technological innovation, and served as an information officer. David acquired and managed a suite of research society-owned journals with OUP, and before that was the Executive Editor for Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, where he created and edited new science books and journals, along with serving as a journal Editor-in-Chief. He has served on the Board of Directors for the STM Association, the Society for Scholarly Publishing and CHOR, Inc., as well as The AAP-PSP Executive Council. David received his PhD in Genetics from Columbia University and did developmental neuroscience research at Caltech before moving from the bench to publishing.

Discussion

4 Thoughts on "Small Fly, Big Impact: A History of Drosophila Research (and Why It Matters)"

Maybe someone should send a link to Sarah Palin, who famously said

“You’ve heard about some of these pet projects, they really don’t make a whole lot of sense and sometimes these dollars go to projects that have little or nothing to do with the public good. Things like fruit fly research in Paris, France. I kid you not.”

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/oct/27/sarahpalin-genetics-fruit-flies

By Irene Hames (@irenehames)
Jan 23, 2015, 9:42 AM

Note the link in the post above where it says, “not directly familiar”.

By David Crotty
Jan 23, 2015, 9:45 AM

Sorry David, missed that you’d linked to the Palin story, got absorbed in the lovely fruit fly film!

By Irene Hames (@irenehames)
Jan 23, 2015, 10:04 AM

Spendid video! Many before Morgan (e.g. Galton, Bateson, Weldon, Lutz) were well aware of the advantages of using insects for genetic studies. But there were formidable technical obstacles as set out by Jim Endersby in “A Guinea Pig’s History of Biology” (2007) and in our biography of Bateson (2008). The basic studies of the Morgan group rested upon even more basic studies that would be quite beyond Palin’s comprehension. Those who seek a “quick fix” usually end up by slowing down the discovery process.