Antioxidants are natural food ingredients that protect cells from harmful influences. Their main task is to neutralize1 so-called free radicals2 which are produced in the process of oxidation and which are responsible for cell degeneration. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, and the University of Lund, Sweden, now show that vinegar flies are able to detect these protective substances by using olfactory3 cues. Odors that are exclusively derived4 from a
