Newswire:

The Incredible Sex Change Laser

Hey, we’re exaggerating, but would you love us so much if we didn’t? [The Independent]

Researchers at Oxford are using laser beams to stimulate brain cells in flies that make female flies “act like males.”

Here’s how it works: Gero Miesenböck, an Austrian scientist at Oxford, and his team of researchers genetically modified the brain cells of flies to “make them light sensitive.”

When a direct light is then shone on the cells, they are activated, creating behavior.

In this case, the scientists were able to cause female flies to conduct a mating dance that had only ever been observed in males.

“Although the song was a slightly different pitch to the male version, the scientists were astonished to discover that the circuitry for male behavior appeared to exist in female brains but simply lay dormant.”

Professor Miesenböck says, “You might expect that the brains of the sexes would be built differently, but that does not seem to be the case…Instead, it appears there is a largely bisexual or unisex brain with a few critical switches that make the difference between male and female behavior.”

Scientists hope to use this type of neuron activation to treat neurological disorders.

Unfortunately, this method of activating brain cells is a bit messy, and can “target cells in a wide area, not just cells that need to be stimulated to treat an ailment.”

Just another tool our robot overlords will use to control us. You’ve been warned.

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