Scientists figure out why flies like beer


Scientists at the University of California, Riverside posed a question that sounds like something you'd hear at a fraternity kegger:

Ever wonder why flies are attracted to beer?

The answer turns out to be simple. UCR said in a statement today, "flies sense glycerol, a sweet-tasting compound that yeasts make during fermentation." There's yeast in beer, and beer undergoes fermentation.

The flies "sense the glycerol because (they) have a receptor known as Gr64e," UCR says. "Once a fly has settled on beer, Gr64e detects glycerol and transmits this information to the fly's neurons, which then influences the fly's behavioral response.)

The results of the study -- which was done on fruit flies -- aren't surprising. The University of California San Francisco released a study last year that says that fruit flies will drink until they can drink no more. UCSF researcher Ulrike Heberlein told Mental Floss (story) that, "The flies choose to consume alcohol to intoxicating levels, they will do so even if alcohol is made unpalatable, and they relapse to drinking high levels of alcohol after being deprived of it. Addiction is a purely human condition, but, surprisingly, flies show several key features of it.”

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