The day in the life of a female fruit fly includes foraging at dusk and dawn and taking a long siesta during the hot afternoon to conserve energy. Add sperm into the mix and an ordinary female fruit fly will transforms into a stepford fly opting to forgo the siesta in favor of using that time for extra foraging and searching for places to lay her eggs. This effect, which lasts for 8 days, is caused by a sex peptide produced by the male accessory glands that becomes attached to the tail of the sperm. "It would appear that preventing sleep and inducing extra domestic-type duties to prepare for the birth of offspring in females is a further tactic used by the male to ensure successful paternity after mating," says Professor Isaac. No word yet on these effects in humans however in my own experience I usually opt for the siesta.

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