Stupid flies live longer

[Every Breaking Wave]

Source

It doesn't pay to be smart and ignorance really is bliss if you want a long life -- at least if you're a fly, according to new research by a Swiss university.

Scientists Tadeusz Kawecki and Joep Burger at the University of Lausanne said Wednesday they had discovered a "negative correlation between an improvement in a fly's mental capacity and its longevity".

As part of their research project, the results of which are published in the journal Evolution, they divided into two a group of flies from the Basel region of northwestern Switzerland.

One half was left in a natural state while the other had its intelligence boosted by Pavlovian methods, such as associating smell and taste with particular food or experiences.

Over 30 to 40 generations, these methods led to flies which clearly learned better and remembered things for longer.

The flipside was that the flies left in their natural state lived longer on average than their "cleverer" counterparts, with a lifespan of 80-85 days rather than the normal 50-60..

"In other terms, the more the fly becomes intelligent, the shorter its lifespan," the scientists said.

This is most probably because the increase in neural activity weakens the fly's life-support systems, they speculated.

"This would explain why flies, like most other animals, have hardly developed their neural capacities," they said.

 

[Mega-Markario]

Does that mean that all books/educational websites should now carry a warning ala cigarette packets?

"Warning: prolonged exposure to learning can seriously effect your health"

This is quite an interesting find though, and its interesting to ponder whether the same is true for humans.

Anybody with any theories on this?

 

[Barb]

I'm currently reading a book entitled Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, written by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. They describe what they term the "Curse of Knowledge" and how it sometimes stifles creative thinking. The "Curse" is just that once you know something, you find it hard to remember what it was like not to know it. You can't unlearn what you already know: the only alternatives are to not learn anything or to transform your ideas.

 

[llxwarbirdxll]

Poor things must've baffled themselves to death while thinking about the meaning of life.

 

[ShinyFlareon]

Poor things must've baffled themselves to death while thinking about the meaning of life.

Ha wouldn't that be ironic if we humans suddenly learned the meaning of life from a fly. This is really interesting, though...but it just goes to show that you're not supposed to know more than you can find out for yourself. "Knowledge is power", yes, but I'll follow that with another well-known quote: "No man is strong enough, nor good enough, to be trusted with unlimited power."

 

[A.T.]

"Warning: prolonged exposure to learning can seriously effect your health"

lol. that does make sense as well. i should see If my mate will live longer than me. he doesnt learn at school coz hes a bludger. hes my age so this theory will have no flaws.

ill post the result in 60 years time if im still alive. or ill get my mate to do it if hes the winner lol.

 

[Irinya]

Ha wouldn't that be ironic if we humans suddenly learned the meaning of life from a fly. This is really interesting, though...but it just goes to show that you're not supposed to know more than you can find out for yourself. "Knowledge is power", yes, but I'll follow that with another well-known quote: "No man is strong enough, nor good enough, to be trusted with unlimited power."

QFT. Yet this is brings up the question: What is unlimited power? Is it what Spore gave us? Or something we can never comprehend, no matter how much we try? Something tells me that the world will never know...