The Fly | Here's looking at you, Kid!
Explored October 5, 2020
#sliderssunday
Do you remember the Mendelian laws of inheritance? We've learned them in school on the basis of how the eye colours of fruit flies (the notorious Drosophila Melanogaster) are inherited to further generations according to dominant or recessive characteristics, although Gregor Mendel himself conducted his groundbreaking genetic experiments with pea plants. Unfortunately, the significance of Mendel's laws was never truly understood or acknowledged in his lifetime (1822 – 1884). His studies, however, were rediscovered three decades later, at the turn of the 20th century, and, following their rediscovery, American biologist Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866 – 1945) began to experiment with Drosophila in his "Fly Room" at Columbia University. It was Morgan who discovered that genes are carried on chromosomes; he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1933. Further Fly experiments (with a less successful outcome) were conducted by a certain Dr. Seth Brundle in 1986 (aka "The Fly"). So where exactly does my image come in here, you may have already asked yourself (if you haven't stopped reading my lengthy introduction long before – which I could totally understand). Well, during one of those numerous teaching experiments with fruit flies, which numerous generations of students have conducted ever since modern genetics became part of school curriculums, something must have gone very wrong. And who knows, maybe Dr. Seth "Brundlefly" Brundle himself had led one of those biology experiments? Experiments in which some dinosaur genes were mixed with those of an innocent fruit fly... Which resulted in the creation the biggest Drosophila the world has ever seen – the Olympic Brachosophila Megalogaster? Nonsense, of course, and you know it ;-) But doesn't this kaleidoscoped image of the Olympic stadium's interior (the roof, mostly, taken at a dutch angle) look just like an ultra close-up of a (fruit) fly's face? Not one that you'd like to see buzzing around your fruit bowl, that's for sure, but let's say that the other "third party genes" that were used in this crazy experiment came from a puppy. So this would be the friendliest, cuddliest giant dinosaur puppy fruit fly you'll ever come across :) OK, I'd rather stop before you start to believe that I was a part of those experiments as well ;-)
Happy Sliders Sunday, Everyone, stay safe and take care, dear Flickr friends!
Drosophila Megalogaster – Schau mir in die Augen, Kleines :)
Ihr erinnert Euch doch bestimmt noch alle an die Mendelsche Vererbungslehre und die berühmte Drosophila Melanogaster mit ihren dominanten bzw. rezessiven Genen, die über die Vererbung der jeweiligen Augenfarbe entscheiden. Was wäre, wenn jemand bei einem der unzähligen Biologie-Experimente, die Generationen von Schülern mit Fruchtfliegen durchgeführt haben, nicht nur Fruchtfliegen(-Gene) gekreuzt, sondern evtl. noch ein paar Dinosaurier-Gene dazwischen gestreut hätte? Das Ergebnis könnte die größte Fruchtfliege sein, die die Welt je gesehen hat, die unglaubliche "Olympische Brachosophila Megalogaster" mit Augen so groß wie zwei Stadiondächer ;-) Nun ja, Ihr habt es schon erraten, dies ist eine kleine Spielerei mit einem Foto vom Olympiastadion für den Sliders Sunday. Ich hatte hier einfach aus Spaß mal eine Aufnahme mit schräger Perspektive gemacht und dabei überwiegend das offene Dach mit ins Bild genommen. Nachdem ich in Photoshop das Bild kopiert, gespiegelt und neu zusammengesetzt hatte, schaute mich plötzlich eine riesige (Frucht-)Fliege an ;-) Keine, die man gerne daheim um den Früchteteller herumschwirren sehen möchte, aber ich kann Euch beruhigen: Bei dem manipulierten Experiment kamen als "Drittanbieter-Gene" nicht nur die eines Dinosauriers hinzu, sondern auch die eines kuscheligen Welpen. Diese Fliege ist also gaaaanz lieb und verschmust und will bloß spielen ;-)
Ich wünsche Euch einen guten Start in die neue Woche, bleibt gesund und passt auf Euch auf!
The Fly | Here's looking at you, Kid!
Explored October 5, 2020
#sliderssunday
Do you remember the Mendelian laws of inheritance? We've learned them in school on the basis of how the eye colours of fruit flies (the notorious Drosophila Melanogaster) are inherited to further generations according to dominant or recessive characteristics, although Gregor Mendel himself conducted his groundbreaking genetic experiments with pea plants. Unfortunately, the significance of Mendel's laws was never truly understood or acknowledged in his lifetime (1822 – 1884). His studies, however, were rediscovered three decades later, at the turn of the 20th century, and, following their rediscovery, American biologist Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866 – 1945) began to experiment with Drosophila in his "Fly Room" at Columbia University. It was Morgan who discovered that genes are carried on chromosomes; he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1933. Further Fly experiments (with a less successful outcome) were conducted by a certain Dr. Seth Brundle in 1986 (aka "The Fly"). So where exactly does my image come in here, you may have already asked yourself (if you haven't stopped reading my lengthy introduction long before – which I could totally understand). Well, during one of those numerous teaching experiments with fruit flies, which numerous generations of students have conducted ever since modern genetics became part of school curriculums, something must have gone very wrong. And who knows, maybe Dr. Seth "Brundlefly" Brundle himself had led one of those biology experiments? Experiments in which some dinosaur genes were mixed with those of an innocent fruit fly... Which resulted in the creation the biggest Drosophila the world has ever seen – the Olympic Brachosophila Megalogaster? Nonsense, of course, and you know it ;-) But doesn't this kaleidoscoped image of the Olympic stadium's interior (the roof, mostly, taken at a dutch angle) look just like an ultra close-up of a (fruit) fly's face? Not one that you'd like to see buzzing around your fruit bowl, that's for sure, but let's say that the other "third party genes" that were used in this crazy experiment came from a puppy. So this would be the friendliest, cuddliest giant dinosaur puppy fruit fly you'll ever come across :) OK, I'd rather stop before you start to believe that I was a part of those experiments as well ;-)
Happy Sliders Sunday, Everyone, stay safe and take care, dear Flickr friends!
Drosophila Megalogaster – Schau mir in die Augen, Kleines :)
Ihr erinnert Euch doch bestimmt noch alle an die Mendelsche Vererbungslehre und die berühmte Drosophila Melanogaster mit ihren dominanten bzw. rezessiven Genen, die über die Vererbung der jeweiligen Augenfarbe entscheiden. Was wäre, wenn jemand bei einem der unzähligen Biologie-Experimente, die Generationen von Schülern mit Fruchtfliegen durchgeführt haben, nicht nur Fruchtfliegen(-Gene) gekreuzt, sondern evtl. noch ein paar Dinosaurier-Gene dazwischen gestreut hätte? Das Ergebnis könnte die größte Fruchtfliege sein, die die Welt je gesehen hat, die unglaubliche "Olympische Brachosophila Megalogaster" mit Augen so groß wie zwei Stadiondächer ;-) Nun ja, Ihr habt es schon erraten, dies ist eine kleine Spielerei mit einem Foto vom Olympiastadion für den Sliders Sunday. Ich hatte hier einfach aus Spaß mal eine Aufnahme mit schräger Perspektive gemacht und dabei überwiegend das offene Dach mit ins Bild genommen. Nachdem ich in Photoshop das Bild kopiert, gespiegelt und neu zusammengesetzt hatte, schaute mich plötzlich eine riesige (Frucht-)Fliege an ;-) Keine, die man gerne daheim um den Früchteteller herumschwirren sehen möchte, aber ich kann Euch beruhigen: Bei dem manipulierten Experiment kamen als "Drittanbieter-Gene" nicht nur die eines Dinosauriers hinzu, sondern auch die eines kuscheligen Welpen. Diese Fliege ist also gaaaanz lieb und verschmust und will bloß spielen ;-)
Ich wünsche Euch einen guten Start in die neue Woche, bleibt gesund und passt auf Euch auf!