Drosophila Melanogastronaut

Available for over a year

Dr Erica McAlister examines the innocuous flies that are Drosophila melanogaster. They’d be content to spend life doing nothing much more than hovering around a pile of rotting apples and getting drunk. But we now know more about these flies than any other animal on the planet, as a model for human biology and genetics - on earth and now in space. Series looking at some of the entomological pioneers, whose groundbreaking observations and experiments have led to some truly innovative developments. With contributions from:: * Behavioural geneticist Professor Matthew Cobb, University of Manchester; * Dr Stephanie Mohr, Harvard University and author of First in Fly * Sharmila Bhattacharya, NASA's chief scientist for Space Biology Producer: Adrian Washbourne First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2021.