For most of us, the chance to be transformed into a Marilyn Monroe or a Brad Pitt would be one opportunity too good to pass up.The good news is that scientists have now developed a gene whose effect is so strong, it has been likened to a "sexual tsunami". The bad news... it currently only works on flies.
Researchers at the University of Toronto have been busy messing about with pheromones and have managed to genetically modify fruit flies, with astonishing results.
By removing the cuticular hydrocarbon pheromone, used by flies to communicate, the bugs suddenly became irresistible to both sexes.
So strong was the effect that male fruit flies (those with no previous history of homosexuality, we might add) attempted to mate with pheromone-free males and even flies of a different species began showing an interest.
The same went for the females, who were instantly transformed into the equivalent of Marilyn Monroe, says the report, published in the journal Nature.
Professor Joel Levine, who led the study, said: "Lacking these chemical signals eliminated barriers to mating."
So surely, in the fullness of time, such an effect could one day be replicated in humans, we hear you cry.
Sadly not. Professor Levine explains: "While pheromones are also part of the human mating game, our cues for attraction are far more complex.
We may rely more on the visual system, and we may have a more complex way of assessing other individuals and classifying them and determining how we're going to relate to them than a fly does."
Back to the drawing board, then.
shopping spree
