What do fruit flies and humans have in common? More than you realize.

One of the drawbacks of traveling to deep space that remains relatively unknown is what the effects of no gravity could have on human biology. Especially the central nervous system. To find out more, , a team of scientists from NASA and Universities Space Research Association studied how the effects of space – like changes in gravity, radiation, and more – impact “model organisms,” or other kinds of life that are biologically similar to humans. For this particular study, they used fruit flies. That right fruit flies. The Space Hour had the chance to speak to one of the scientists involved with the study, Dr. Janani Iyer. Who is a project scientist at USRA and the NASA Ames Research Center. My first question, why Fruit flies?