More evidence that flies sleep like people

A common brain chemical is enough to keep a fruit fly up at night. Scientists know that the chemical, a neurotransmitter called GABA, is important for the human sleep cycle. But a new study is the first to show the chemical also controls whether a Drosophila melanogaster nods off or tosses and turns all night.

The research, published in the March Nature Neuroscience, shows that a receptor for GABA controls whether fruit flies fall asleep, just as it does in humans.