External temperatures can affect our energy, emotions, and sleep quality. Scientists are still exploring how climate changes bear on human behavior.

Neurobiologists at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, may have uncovered genetic underpinnings influencing the body’s adaptations to climate.

Their recently published study in the journal Current BiologyTrusted Source found a “distinct thermometer circuit” in the fruit fly brain triggered by hot temperatures. It follows a 2020 paperTrusted Source that identified a “cold thermometer” circuit.

Lead author Marco Gallio, Ph.D., an associate professor of neurobiology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University, told Medical News Today:

“People may choose to take an afternoon nap on a hot day, and in some parts of the world this is a cultural norm, but what do you choose and what is programmed into you? Of course, it’s not culture in flies, so there actually might be a very strong underlying biological mechanism that is overlooked in humans.”

Medical News Today discussed this research with Dr. Gallio and asked why he chose to examine the fruit fly (Drosophila).

The professor mentioned that sleep is universal throughout the animal kingdom. He also shared that 60% of the insects’ genes are the same as those in humans.

The common fly appears all around the world due to having a close association with people. Its favorite temperature — 77 degrees Fahrenheit — is also close to that of many humans.

Dr. Gallio said that fruit flies are gaining momentum in research because they show an array of complex behaviors like people. Yet, “they do all that in a brain that is only made up of 100,000 brain cells.”

On the other hand, the human brain holds about 86 billion brain cells.

In his article, “Ode to the fruit fly: tiny lab subject crucial to basic research, Dr. Gallio wrote that our related anatomy and physiology make the flies ideal for designing experiments “of significance to animals and humans alike.”