A few weeks ago I blogged about the way the universe is doomed by the exponential growth in readership of an old post here on Scientist Sees Squirrel. That exercise was a bit silly, but I used it to make a non-silly point or two about biology. My blogging example reminded me that I used to use an almost-as-silly fruit fly example in my undergrad ecology courses. I thought you might enjoy it – so here it is. (And if you’re teaching, and want to borrow it, be my guest.)
Imagine that you return from the grocery store with some bananas. Unbeknownst to you, a single (inseminated) female fruit fly* has stowed away in there. If all her offspring survive, how many fruit flies will your kitchen have after just one year? Continue reading