Did someone actually turn a fly bisexual?
Man claims he created the first bi-fly.
Magnified fly head. Image by Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
- Nico Christie claims a digital male fruit fly model responded more to male cues after blocking a particular group of neurons.
- The test blocked one neuron group to explore how fruit flies process chemical mating signals.
- Female cues still produced stronger responses, so the model did not show a clear male preference.
- Scientists study fly brains because they are simpler than human brains but share many human genes.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
The co-founder of a research lab attempting to create “digital humans” claims to have turned a male fly bisexual.
Nico Christie, co-founder of AI agent start-up Fundamental Research Labs, declared on X that he’d successfully made a computational version of a common male fruit fly attracted to the same sex.
“I turned the fly bisexual,” Christie said triumphantly.
The fly is a local Three.js fly animation with recorded activity from a 166,606-neuron MaleCNS model.
The experiment was inspired by researcher Benjamin R. Kallman, who co-authored a paper on male and female fruit flies and how to distinguish between them.
Researchers found that certain neurons detect female chemical signals, called pheromones, through activation of P1 neurons, which are “male-specific command neurons that trigger courtship.”
Only female pheromones can be detected, not male pheromones, according to the study.
Christie then decided to block a group of neurons called mAL output to test the theory.
“The model showed increased responsiveness to male cues, not male preference. Female cues still produced stronger responses,” Christie’s findings showed.
As Christie put it, the model did respond to male cues, but female cues still produced stronger responses.
Users don't know what to think
While many might see this experiment as significant, others are used to seeing computational fly brain content.
One user mentioned that “this is the most rigorous fly-brain post this week,” as everyone else used a fly brain for the meme.
“Everyone else wired the same connectome into Bitcoin or Beat Saber. You cited the source paper and ran an actual before/after measurement instead of a demo reel.”
On Reddit, users were particularly taken aback, specifically one Reddit user who complained that “we got a computational fly brain bisexual before GTA VI.”
Another Redditor headed this mysterious warning: “You will live to see man-made horrors beyond comprehension, now you already have, but there will be more.”
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Why is everyone obsessed with digital flies?
Fly brains have gained a lot of attention in recent years, with scientists creating a digital simulation of a fruit fly brain using AI.
Scientists at the biotechnology startup Eon Systems claimed to have recreated a biologically accurate digital “wiring diagram” of a fly, which was then plugged into a physically simulated body.
Neuroscientists have been attempting to create a complete map of neural connections in a living nervous system.
But the human brain is still largely unexplored and far more complex, so scientists work on fly brain simulations, which are relatively simple yet share many of the same genes as humans.
Labs like Fundamental Research Labs and Eon Systems are ambitious, and many scientists hope that this is the next step in creating a digital replica of the human brain.
The digital fly brain craze has ushered in experiments such as “FlyBook,” a social media network for digital fly brains.
