Grateful for those who make our work visible
2025
February 2025
Dopamine-serotonin push-pull balances reward seeking and caution. Happy to comment on this cool study in mammals and the parallels with our own work in #Drosophila! Check it out @The Transmitter here.
December 2024
Our paper 'Mating proximity blinds threat perception' has been featured in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.
Our paper 'Mating proximity blinds threat perception' has been highlighted in a dispatch article published in Current Biology.
August 2024
Check out the University press release of our study 'Mating proximity blinds threat perception' published in Nature.
Watch a 3' movie about our work :
The press highlighted our recent publication 'Mating proximity blinds threat perception'.
Love is blind for male fruit flies who will choose sex over safety
El amor es ciego... por lo menos, en las moscas de la fruta
Pesquisadores descobrem que moscas machos ignoram perigos durante acasalamento
Chez les drosophiles, le sexe à ses risques et périls (Le Monde)
Las moscas de la fruta macho ignoran las amenazas cuando pueden tener sexo
Liebe macht Fruchtfliegen-Männchen blind
El amor es ciego para los machos de la mosca de la fruta
¿El amor es “ciego”?
Carolina was interviewed on an Argentine radio news programme
A twitter thread on our work
A lay summary of our recent publication in Nature.
When animals are focused on something they desire—they may become less aware of potential dangers around them. This phenomenon, often referred to as “love blindness,” is a widespread behavioural tendency where the pursuit of a valued reward, like a mate, can overshadow possible risks. In the animal world, this kind of focus can help increase the chances of finding a mate and reproducing, but it also makes individuals more vulnerable to threats, such as predators.
In our study, we explored how the brain balances risk and reward during courtship, focusing on male fruit flies. We discovered a neural mechanism controlled by dopamine, a chemical linked to reward and pleasure, which allows the flies to reduce their sensitivity to danger as they get closer to mating. In the early stages of courtship, visual signals alert the flies to nearby threats, activating certain neurons that cause the flies to stop courting. This response is mediated by serotonin, another brain chemical that temporarily inhibits the courtship drive to ensure survival. However, as the male flies advance in the courtship process, the brain gradually shifts gears. Dopamine levels rise, which reduces the response to threats, allowing the flies to stay focused on courtship instead of fleeing from danger. By tracking brain activity, we observed that the closer the flies get to mating, the higher the dopamine levels rise, eventually blocking the pathway that would normally alert them to visual threats. This allows the flies to “tune out” distractions and prioritise mating. In essence, dopamine acts as a sensory filter, adjusting the flies’ perception of threats based on their proximity to achieving their goal. This filtering system enables the brain to prioritise between competing actions, choosing reproduction over survival when it matters most.
May 2022
'Fruit flies prioritise mating over survival'. Check out the press release on our last paper led by Saloni Rose. Here.
Saloni's paper on the trade-off between immunity and reproduction has been covered by >150 newspapers and news websites. Here are a few ones:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/university-of-birmingham-animals-b2076133.html
https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/outdoors/arid-40869632.html
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/university-of-birmingham-animals-b999265.html
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10802157/Fruit-flies-sex-theyre-ill-study-finds.html
October 2021
Carolina discussed the science we do in the lab in the week's Scientistt podcast. Check it out here.
August 2021
Sex or food? Inside a fruit fly's brain as it makes that decision. BBC news covered our work. Check it out here.
A great Twitter threat explaining our findings, by Annika Barber here.
To court or to eat? That is the question (at least for the fly). Flying Thru Science explained our recent work with simple language and nice cartoons. It's very cool, check it out here.
Fruit Flies Choose Food Over Sex When Deprived of Both. InsideScience covered our study. Check it out here.
Can fruit flies help us to understand Alzheimer's disease better? BBC news covered our study in their website. Check it out here.
Food or sex? Fruit flies give insight into decision-making. Check out the press release of our study here
Turning a female brain into a male brain. Insights from fruit flies. Check out a 3 minute-video from Carolina's work at the University of Oxford here.
