Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello,

I would like to do an experiment on making fruit flies learn helplessness. In order to do this, I must subject the flies to a heat source and be able to monitor the activity by observing the flies during the process. Is there any way I am able to achieve this? Also how can I measure the dopamine levels of the flies after they consume Royal Jelly that contains dopamine?

Thank You

Hi Molly,

Your description of a project sounds interesting, but a little confusing. What did you mean by "helplessness"?? How warm do the fruit flies have to be and how long do they need to be at the particular temperature. Maintaining an accurate temperature for several hours is challenging unless you have an incubator with a temperature control that allows you to set and hold a certain temperature to within a degree.

And now you want to feed the flies royal jelly? I don't get the connection between heating them and feeding them royal jelly which you said contains dopamine. Why do you want to do this? What is your hypothesis?

Please take a little more time and explain your project in enough detail so I understand your question and how you propose to test it. I need to have the whole picture in order to answer your questions properly.

Sybee