Friday, October 31, 2008 | Science : In the News | print version

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Swatting attacks on fruit flies and science

by Jerry Coyne, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Reposted from:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20081031_Swatting_attacks_on_fruit_flies_and_science.html

By Jerry Coyne
Professor in the University of Chicago's Department of Ecology and Evolution

Enough already. I bit my tongue when I heard that Sarah Palin believed that dinosaurs and humans once lived side by side and that she and John McCain wanted creationism taught in the public schools.

And I just shook my head when McCain derided proposed funding for a sophisticated planetarium projection machine as wasteful spending on an "overhead projector."

But the Republican ticket's war on science has finally gone too far. Last week, Sarah Palin dissed research on fruit flies.

In her usual faux-folksy style, Palin lit out after a congressional earmark involving these insects: "You've heard about some of these pet projects - they really don't make a whole lot of sense - and sometimes these dollars go to projects that have little or nothing to do with the public good. Things like fruit-fly research in Paris, France. I kid you not." (Reading this diatribe is not sufficient; only video reveals the scorn and condescension dripping from her words.)

As a geneticist, I've worked on fruit flies in the laboratory for three decades. I know the fruit fly. The fruit fly is a friend of mine. And believe me, Sarah Palin doesn't know anything about fruit flies.

The research Palin attacked was a perfectly valid project designed to protect American growers from the olive fruit fly, a destructive pest. But fruit-fly research is good for far more than that.

The fruit fly is what we call a "model organism." Since all animals partake of a common evolutionary history, we share basic features of physiology, development and biochemistry. And because flies are easy to study, quick to breed in the lab, and cheaper than chimps and mice, we can often use them as models for things that go wrong (or right) in our own species.

For example, most of what we know about how genes are passed on in humans came from breeding studies of fruit flies - work for which T.H. Morgan won a Nobel Prize in 1933. (This included work on the effects of abnormal numbers of chromosomes, the cause of Down syndrome.) Since then, three other Nobel Prizes in medicine or physiology have gone for research on fruit flies. This work has given insights into how bodies are built and how learning might occur.

The flies are models for disease, too, producing possibilities for curing epilepsy, Alzheimer's and, yes, one of Palin's favorite causes, autism.

Why are the Republican candidates so contemptuous of science? I suppose it's part of their general attack on "elitism," which has been surprisingly effective. We white-coated nerds in our labs, fooling around with flies at taxpayer expense, are easy targets.

But America can't afford cheap shots at science, because a lot of basic research has immense implications for human welfare - even if ignorant politicians can make it sound silly. Work on fruit flies is just one example.

This year's Republican campaign has consistently attacked the values of reason and logic that undergird our democracy. If anything has led to America's high standard of living and world preeminence, it's the idea that we can advance only with the best science possible.

When Palin declares that we don't have to know what causes global warming in order to fix it, she's not only exposing herself as a scientific illiterate; she's going against two centuries of American progress in technology, medicine and science. Trying to bond with the American people by taking pride in your ignorance and making science the common enemy - now that's a bridge to nowhere.

Jerry Coyne wrote the forthcoming "Why Evolution is True." His e-mail address is j-coyne@uchicago.edu.

Posted: Friday, October 31, 2008 | Permalink

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1. Comment #275548 by Ex~ on October 31, 2008 at 9:59 am

Amen. People like Sarah Palin are a plague on this country. Imagine if this contemptible ignorant idiot was put one cancer-ridden 72-year-old's heartbeat away from the presidency.

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2. Comment #275561 by Annamation on October 31, 2008 at 10:14 am

How I would like to see the Palins of this world living by their archaic ways of thinking ie: Having nothing to do with present day technology, medical knowledge etc. If they refuse to believe in evolution why do they not live as their 3000 year old ways of thinking dictates? Does she not realise that she lives a modern day life that has only been made possible by evolution in technology and scientific study.
Dumb ass!

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3. Comment #275594 by rdubya on October 31, 2008 at 10:27 am

I think this pissed me off more then anything she has ever said. If those two get into office, I will be in utter disbelief. I am glad im Canadian but scared at the same time, I have to share a border with these nuts.

Cheers

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4. Comment #275622 by Richard Dawkins on October 31, 2008 at 10:32 am

Jerry just copied to me the following letter:

Until this very day I numbered myself among the undecided in the coming presidential election. No more. Your October 31 op-ed piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer about Sarah Palin's low regard for the fruit fly has tilted me solidly to the left. Thanks.

Congratulations, Jerry. Let's hope the one who bothers to write is the tip of a large iceberg. And in Pennsylvania, too, one of the minority of states where votes actually matter, under the ridiculous 'electoral college' system.
Richard

Other Comments by Richard Dawkins

5. Comment #275629 by mbobo on October 31, 2008 at 10:33 am

Of all the observations surrounding Palin... The most "spot on" is "Bush in a skirt"... To anyone who doubts the damming power of their collective thought processes... Please read "Undermining Science" by Seth Shulman... Four more minutes of these morons is far too long, let alone four more years!!!

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6. Comment #275635 by markg on October 31, 2008 at 10:35 am

I can imagine the lack of thought going on in Sarah Palin's head:

"Why are they doing research on fruit flies? To improve their lives? To improve the health and cure diseases of fruit flies?

Why aren't we spending that money on the important things like curing autism in children..."

You would think her creationism adviser would at least a know a little about fruit fly research.

edit

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7. Comment #275643 by Steve Zara on October 31, 2008 at 10:39 am

As a geneticist, I've worked on fruit flies in the laboratory for three decades. I know the fruit fly. The fruit fly is a friend of mine. And believe me, Sarah Palin doesn't know anything about fruit flies.

Clever.

It refers to this stunning put-down of a previous dumb vice-presidential candidate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRCWbFFRpnY

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8. Comment #275645 by God fearing Atheist on October 31, 2008 at 10:43 am

#275635 by markg
I can imagine the thoughts going on in Sarah Palin's head:

You can imagine "thought" going through SP's head? :-)

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9. Comment #275653 by bugaboo on October 31, 2008 at 10:46 am

Little Fly
Thy summers play,
My thoughtless hand
Has brush'd away.

Am not I
A fly like thee?
Or art not thou
A man like me?

For I dance
And drink and sing
Till some blind hand
Shall brush my wing.

If thought is life
And strength and breath;
And the want
of thought is death;

Then am I
A happy fly,
If I live,
Or if I die.

-- William Blake

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10. Comment #275656 by markg on October 31, 2008 at 10:48 am

You can imagine "thought" going through SP's head? :-)

error corrected

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11. Comment #275657 by NewEnglandBob on October 31, 2008 at 10:48 am

Very good article. I don't understand why anyone could be undecided at this point. These examples by Coyne only add to the thousands of pieces of evidence that the Republican in the US are against science, people, progress, health, the environment, logic, reason and sanity.

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12. Comment #275658 by ev-love on October 31, 2008 at 10:51 am

Ah, but the folks on the Right have god on their side:

"Dead flies cause the oil of the perfumer to send forth an evil odour; so doth a little folly outweigh wisdom and honour."

That's from Ecclesiastes, the same book that gave us:

"A wise man's heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart at his left"

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13. Comment #275663 by troyboy on October 31, 2008 at 10:53 am

"I bit my tongue when I heard that Sarah Palin believed that dinosaurs and humans once lived side by side and that she and John McCain wanted creationism taught in the public schools. "

I heard palin wanted creationism taught but I haven't heard she believed that dinosaurs and humans once lived side by side nor have I heard that McCain has said the same. Can anyone point me to proof of this?

She is quite the nut job though.

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14. Comment #275671 by markg on October 31, 2008 at 10:59 am

13. Comment #275663 by troyboy

Here's a news article concerning Palin's dinosaur beliefs:

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-palinreligion28-2008sep28,0,3643718.story?track=rss

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15. Comment #275674 by Nastika on October 31, 2008 at 11:03 am

I heard palin wanted creationism taught but I haven't heard she believed that dinosaurs and humans once lived side by side nor have I heard that McCain has said the same. Can anyone point me to proof of this?

From September's LA Times: "Soon after Sarah Palin was elected mayor of the foothill town of Wasilla, Alaska, she startled a local music teacher by insisting in casual conversation that men and dinosaurs coexisted on an Earth created 6,000 years ago."

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-palinreligion28-2008sep28,0,3643718.story

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16. Comment #275677 by maton100 on October 31, 2008 at 11:05 am

The *only* fruit is Palin. Let's just hope she's not an organ donor for the sake of neuroscience.

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17. Comment #275684 by George Lennan on October 31, 2008 at 11:23 am

Yeah. I've been thinking today - doesn't happen often.... but rdubya's got a good point. We don't share a border with them over here, so maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing if McCain & Palin got elected - it won't matter much to us. Then America can hit the buffers hard, make an absolute laughing stock of itself in the public eye regards its stance on science and come out of it with a kind of 'never again' immunisation. Or perhaps I'd be better off going back to not thinking at all.

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18. Comment #275688 by Naturalist1 on October 31, 2008 at 11:38 am

From Nastika and Markg...thank you for the links to the LA Times piece. Everyone is commenting on her young earth dinosaur stuff. What I found more shocking was her asking the town librarian what the proceedure would be for banning books. I guess she has little regard for the freedom of speech provisions of the US constitution.

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19. Comment #275690 by robotaholic on October 31, 2008 at 11:42 am

this may sound emotional (how unlike me) but ppl shouldn't HATE her, they should pitty her... she is uneducated, or misled, brainwashed, whatever you call it...and I remember when I was like that- I used to be a Jehovah's Witness and the stuff I believed was SOOOOOOOO stupid - I woke up, reexamined my life, made serious changes that completely affected my family and friends (pretty much lost them all) and I just can tell she's totally immersed in the religious indoctrinational bullshit which is similar to what I used to be in... no, you shouldn't vote for her or Mccain but seriously she never had a chance to be vice anyway lol -

anyway I really just mean some negative comments are a little overboard

In fact, she's an example of a pittiful, brainwashed, ignoramus- but she doesn't deserve hatred- She deserves pitty if you ask me -

Not trying to be confrontational -

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20. Comment #275694 by prettygoodformonkeys on October 31, 2008 at 11:52 am

Natiska: thanks for the link.

Atheists and scientists have been called bigots because of their inolerance for religious superstition, most recently in defence of Sarah Palin's belief in a young earth.

From the definition of "Bigotry":

obstinate and unreasoning attachment of one's own belief and opinions, with narrow-minded intolerance of beliefs opposed to them

This obviously does not apply to a reasoned position, but certainly applies to the religious perspective.

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21. Comment #275695 by Pilot22A on October 31, 2008 at 11:56 am

I remember in high school, in the 50's, how difficult it was to learn anything about evolution. Our school board was dominated by Mormon's and any learning about this subject was suppressed.

I did have sympathetic teachers who, now I realize, took great risks to find books for us to read on this subject.

To see that influential individuals, like Sarah Palin, remain in their cocoons and refuse to think, is very depressing.

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22. Comment #275696 by robotaholic on October 31, 2008 at 11:59 am

-pilot22A that's exactly what I was thinking but having trouble saying:

To see that influential individuals, like Sarah Palin, remain in their cocoons and refuse to think, is very depressing.

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23. Comment #275700 by SamKiddoGordon on October 31, 2008 at 12:11 pm

The only thing she has between her ears is the low humm of circling fruit flies.

There is brainwashed followers, and then there is braindead leaders. She is the latter.

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24. Comment #275701 by dvespertilio on October 31, 2008 at 12:11 pm

Please, please, please, Sarah, go back to Alaska, be a good, little, one-term governor and then disappear and never be heard from again!

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25. Comment #275702 by soul_biscuit on October 31, 2008 at 12:12 pm

We don't share a border with them over here, so maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing if McCain & Palin got elected - it won't matter much to us.

You can picture Palin one heart attack away from the big red button, and say stuff like this? The US is, for better or for worse, the most powerful nation in the world. This affects everyone.

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26. Comment #275706 by dloubet on October 31, 2008 at 12:16 pm

No. I can't pity them. I can't pity them because they are actively trying to kill me. If I contract a fatal disease that could have been cured by stem-cell research or experimentation on fruit flies, but that research was curtailed by these willfully ignorant assholes, then they murdered me.

Screw them.

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27. Comment #275708 by robotaholic on October 31, 2008 at 12:30 pm

dloubet well I agree, so lets not elect them, but instead educate them- right?

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28. Comment #275713 by Roger Stanyard on October 31, 2008 at 12:43 pm

The Financial Times today did an op-ed piece that was absoutely scathing about Palin (and the Republicans in general). It stated that Palin was exceedingly ill-read (despite, BTW, the woman bneing a journalist), adding that she did not regularly read any magazines or journals. It basically presented a picture of a woman who is little better than a brainless bimbo.

The FT, which has already endosed Obama, went on to argue that the Republican Party in the USA is now in the process of imploding.

Today The Economist also came out and endosed Obama - IIRC it has consistently endorsed republic presidential candidates since I first starting reading it way back in 1981.

Anyone know what the position of the Wall Street Journal is in endorsing the candidates? What's its view on Palin?

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29. Comment #275715 by Enlightenme.. on October 31, 2008 at 12:47 pm

"Please, please, please, Sarah, go back to Alaska, be a good, little, one-term governor and then disappear and never be heard from again!"

Don't misunderestimate this woman, or misoverestimate her constituency, she'll be back more polished in four years time, but for the top job, and after Obama has had an awful time trying to cope with a complete basketcase economy - she'll probably win.

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30. Comment #275719 by Brian English on October 31, 2008 at 12:55 pm

Enlightenme... you're not the only person who's suggested this...
http://barefootbum.blogspot.com/2008/10/to-republicans-and-neo-cons.html

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31. Comment #275720 by robotaholic on October 31, 2008 at 12:59 pm

Brian English this blog is all like 2016, um by then the religious right will have faded less than the 33 percent of the public that they're barely clinging onto now - I just think Sarah P will have faded long before then and that blog is way off..

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32. Comment #275721 by Lucas on October 31, 2008 at 12:59 pm

Thank you Dr. Coyne. Next time don't wait to speak up.

robotaholic - Your empathy is admirable. I simply refuse to tolerate people like this woman anymore. I've had enough. There is a certain point at which all humans must take responsibility for their own ignorance and recognize that they are being lied to and conned. I don't know exactly when people must accept this responsibility, but you seem to have reached this point at some time yourself. Good job. I am capable of sympathy for rubes, but not much. What little sympathy I have disappears entirely once the rube has turned conman and is now perpetuating the lie, turning others around them into rubes. It's similar to abused children turning into abusers of children. In fact it's the same.

"I do unto others what has been done to me.
Do unto others what has been done to you."
- from Prison Sex, by Tool

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33. Comment #275722 by Brian English on October 31, 2008 at 1:03 pm

robotaholic, you're probably right. I was just pointing out that Elightenme.. wasn't a lone cook. :)

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34. Comment #275723 by William Kaiser on October 31, 2008 at 1:05 pm

Comment #275622 by Richard Dawkins

... under the ridiculous 'electoral college' "system."

Richard, I agree that the XII amendment to the US Constitution is pretty ridiculous. It led to the ridiculous election of George W. Bush in 2000!

However, since it is in the Constitution, I would hesitate to mess with it. Why? Well if changes are made that seem reasonable to most, I'd be afraid that others would use it to try and add other, less well reasoned, changes.

Some overzealous "patriots" want to have an amendment to make desecrating the American flag illegal, thus making the flag some sort of "sacred cow." Desecrating the flag may not be the wisest thing to do and it may upset some folks, but freedom of expression is paramount.

Some overzealous "religious" folks want to ban same-sex marriage, thus making discrimination the law of the land.

I'm sure there are other groups that want to put an "Under God" statement in there too!

So I see the XII amendment as a benign tumor in an otherwise healthy body. The risk/benefits of infection from non-essential surgery must be carefully considered!

WK

P.S. The most inane thing, among the many, I've heard from Sarah Palin was her explicit refusal to answer the moderators question about the economic situation in the US during the VP debate. Would you hire someone who refused to answer a pertinent question during a job interview?

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35. Comment #275725 by Lucas on October 31, 2008 at 1:15 pm

Kaiser -

Your concerns are well founded, but the electoral college system is the source of the monopoly by the two party system and is the main reason why electoral politics has stopped working as it was intended to. It was designed for a far smaller and homogeneous population and they simply did not foresee how it would hamper democracy in the country we grew into. It must be changed, and it must be changed quickly, if we have any hope of saving the American democratic electoral system.

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36. Comment #275727 by wim_vandenberghe on October 31, 2008 at 1:16 pm

I love Professor Jerry Coyne. Ever since he did his "Atheist's Call To Arms" at the Rockefeller University Symposium on Evolution this year (in the same vein as Professor Dawkins at TED), he's been one of my heroes.

Most of you have probably already seen his talk, but here's a link to what I'm referring to:
http://www.rockefeller.edu/evolution/video.php?src=coyne_low.

I actually uploaded the "Atheist's Call To Arms" bit of his talk to youtube, because I thought it was so good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOdhNvO5CLQ

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37. Comment #275731 by William Kaiser on October 31, 2008 at 1:28 pm

Comment by Lucas:
"It must be changed, and it must be changed quickly,"

I do agree is must be changed, but I would suggest doing it with great care. The XVIII amendment was done "quickly" and there were some pretty severe repercussions. The XXI amendment was added only thirteen years later to repeal it. Now that's what I call a quick response to a too hasty decision.

Let's all share a drink to celebrate the XXI amendment! :-)

WK

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38. Comment #275733 by kram50 on October 31, 2008 at 1:34 pm

I am from Canada as well. I find our politics very, very boring so I follow the rest of the world a lot more...especially the US. Since their policies effect us, I beleive we should have the right to vote in the upcoming election. And if I had that right, I am now jumping off the fence into Obama territory.

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39. Comment #275734 by Styrer- on October 31, 2008 at 1:34 pm

Super stuff. Robust and direct.

I second another member here by urging Professor Coyne to desist from further tongue-biting and head-shaking and to speak out a la Dawkins.

More please.

Best,
Styrer

Other Comments by Styrer-

40. Comment #275735 by DaysOfClark on October 31, 2008 at 1:49 pm

Digg Link

http://digg.com/general_sciences/Swatting_attacks_on_fruit_flies_and_science

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41. Comment #275741 by transylvanian on October 31, 2008 at 2:00 pm

Research centered on fruit flies has provided great insight into the nature of genetics and evolution. Anyone who's seen the PBS evolution series knows this.

Palin is an idiot. The average school child has a better grasp of science than her. Of course, that might change if she ends up elected.

EDIT: Also, Richard, just read your comment, and I agree that the US system is "ridiculous."

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42. Comment #275744 by Wosret on October 31, 2008 at 2:04 pm

4. Comment #275622 by Richard Dawkins

...Are you sure that isn't sarcasm? Seems somewhat sarcastically worded to me.

That probably isn't the whole letter though.

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43. Comment #275771 by Broshiesq on October 31, 2008 at 3:20 pm

rdubya: I am glad im Canadian...

Well you don't hear that everyday.

And I'm stunned that someone of RD's educational background would bad mouth the college system in America. What an elitist Universitarian.

markg: I can imagine the lack of thought going on in Sarah Palin's head:

"Why are they doing research on fruit flies? To improve their lives? To improve the health and cure diseases of fruit flies?

That's funny stuff. Sad, but funny.

Other Comments by Broshiesq

44. Comment #275783 by transylvanian on October 31, 2008 at 3:54 pm

I hear the phrase, "I'm glad I'm Canadian," every day. My wife and I are Canadians on student visas in America and just about everything makes me say that under my breath. No offense.

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45. Comment #275785 by Richard Dawkins on October 31, 2008 at 3:56 pm

And I'm stunned that someone of RD's educational background would bad mouth the college system in America. What an elitist Universitarian.

ELECTORAL college, Broshiesq, not college system. The system of Presidential elections whereby a victory by one single vote among millions in a state tips 20 or 30 votes in the electoral college. The system whereby, if you live in California or Texas your vote doesn't count the way it does if you live in Ohio or Florida. The stupid, dopey, ridiculous system of winner-take-all on a state-by-state basis. Nothing to do with the American college system.
Richard

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46. Comment #275788 by Don_Quix on October 31, 2008 at 4:07 pm

Hahah. It honestly wouldn't surprise me if there is an Electoral College somewhere. It's probably some tiny community college in Nebraska.

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47. Comment #275791 by Brian English on October 31, 2008 at 4:13 pm

ELECTORAL college, Broshiesq, not college system

Comprehension fail! Wait, what am I laughing for? I misunderstand almost everything. Carry on as you were.....

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48. Comment #275794 by Ivan The Not So Bad on October 31, 2008 at 4:22 pm

Comment #275622 by Richard Dawkins

The Electoral College has its problems but without it there would be no United States as the states would not have united if the views of electors in the big states were able to completely swamp those in the small ones. The college evens things out a little and made federation a sellable idea by ensuring the small states were guaranteed a hearing.

The UK constituency based first past the post system is hardly ideal either as elections are won and lost by attracting the vote of around 100,000 uncommitted (and largely uninterested and uninformed) voters spread out in those few dozen seats that are marginal. This is why election campaigns appeal to the lowest common denominator.

This means that for anyone living outside a marginal constituency, a vote for anything other than the candidate representing the party that usually wins that seat is pointless. Living in Kensington & Chelsea, with its overwhelming Conservative majority, I am disenfranchised in exactly this way.

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49. Comment #275808 by HourglassMemory on October 31, 2008 at 4:58 pm

If McCain and Palin get elected, the world is going to shake its head and prepare for a new army of mistakes and stupid policies coming from America, which then influece ignorant people all over the world and make everything worse for the rest of us.
It's incredible to think that such an important election can easily tilt one way or another thanks to the intellectual flounderings of a rather ignorant (and I'm hoping 'small') group of people.
I won't be going to bed on the 4th, nor the 5th. I won't be going to bed until I see the results. I'll only close my eyes for sleep until I know that Obama has won, or that Palin is THIS CLOSE to bringging the apocalypse of human intelligence upon humanity with Full Force.

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50. Comment #275814 by Shaden on October 31, 2008 at 5:05 pm

transylvanian,

Yes, it's true that there are many in the States that would make me embarrassed to call a fellow American, but I am actively trying to make it a better place. If you could, would you please enlighten me to what there is about Canada that is so great that would have you cursing your residency here? As far as I can tell, Canada is just an off-brand United States, with no real benefits to offer.

No offense.

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