What Does Anger Smell Like?

ANIMALS

What Does Anger Smell Like?
A whiff of a rage-inducing pheromone can turn peaceful fruit flies into violent brawlers.

By Eric Bland

Discovery News
http://news.discovery.com/animals/anger-smell-fruit-flies.html


The scent of a single chemical can turn peaceful, happy fruit flies into flying fists of fury.

For the first time, scientists have found a rage-inducing pheromone and the neuron that detects it in fruit flies. The research, detailed in the journal Nature, could help explain everything from bar fights to species-wide population control.

"Not only did we identify the pheromone that leads to aggression and its neuron," said David Anderson, a scientist at Cal Tech and co-author of the Nature study, "but we were able to manipulate the ability of the flies to increase aggression."

For the most part, fruit flies are a peaceful species. Give a group of flies a piece of food, and they graze peacefully. Give them some land, and they usually share the territory without incident.

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