Sarah Palin gave a speech today urging the federal government to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). In the speech, Palin cited the need to do more for children with disabilities such as autism.
But where will the money come from? Well from reducing frivolous spending says the lady in red:
“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.”
You tell ‘em Sarah. Fruit flies are ugly, and stupid, and they eat our fruit. What’s worse, they’re sexually dimorphic. Do we really need to be sending that message to the larvae? That it’s ok to be sexually dimorphic? What about the larvae?!
Besides, why do fruit flies need 200 thousand dollars? Can’t they go on with all their fruit-eating for free? Stupid fruit flies! Researching them never did nobody no good. Except, oh yeah, autism sufferers, and just about every biological and genetic researcher — to whom the fruit fly has been invaluable.
What a moroni!
Tags: autism, fruit flies, fruit fly, fruit fly research, IDEA, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, sarah palin
The fruit fly research was on neurexins. As a result, we now have genetic markers that are exactly the same in human DNA, so we are just about able to identify a lot of cases of autism by DNA. People who lack a certain protein (neurexin) are at higher risk of having autism, as neurexin helps establish nerve connections in the brain. The fruit fly research helped pinpoint the exact cause of the lack of nerve connections, as well as the location of the genes in humans.
The study was done on fruit flies because they reproduce readily, are inexpensive, their genome is mapped and can be compared to the human genome without having to actually engage in human tests. Their brains also function relatively similar to our own, but are much simpler and easier to study.
The money didn’t go to Paris, France either. It was for Chapel Hill, in North Carolina, to followup on research that had already been conducted in France, which identified these conditions in olive fruit flies. The money went to further the research in the US.
Gotta love Geoff’s comment. The last few months have felt like watching a chimpanzee try to play chess. Forget thinking three moves ahead, she doesn’t even know what direction the pieces move in.