In addition to being used as cures or medicines themselves, insects are sometimes used as subjects to test new cures. Although it may seem that humans would have little in common with insects, scientists have found that some insects, namely moths and fruit flies, actually have similar reactions to microbial infection, as do mammals. This not only provides for a small test subject, but it means that drugs can be tested without the use of non-insect animals.

Some of prominent research institutions using insects as test subjects include:

• A Science Daily article, Using Insects to Test for Drug Safety, states, "It is now routine practice to use insect larvae to perform initial testing of new drugs and then to use mice for confirmation tests. As well as reducing by up to 90% the number of mice required, this method of testing is quicker as tests with insects yield results in 48-72 hours whereas tests with mice usually take 4-6 weeks."
  
  
• As explained in a University of North Carolina publication, "Fruit flies share 75% of the genes that cause disease with humans, so scientists can learn about human genetics by studying fruit fly genetics."
  
  
• At Cornell University, fruit flies are being studied to help explain "how the health of the human gut is maintained and perhaps identify the origins of such disorders as Crohn's disease and colon cancer."
  
  
• Research by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center Division of Pediatric Ophthalmology is showing that fruit flies and mammals may share an evolutionary link: controlling their body temperature through circadian rhythm, which would provide for "new ways to study the insects as models of human development and disease."
  
  

• UCLA scientists have identified the gene PGC-1, found in both fruit flies and humans, as a key to slowing the aging process; and fruit flies have been a part of NASA research for years. In fact, it was the Drosophila fly, not a chimp, that was the first "animal" in space sent aloft in 1947 on the V2 rocket.
  
  
• A University of Illinois professor even found that, like humans, insects can have varying personalities. The study, that focused on honey bees, found that individuals differ in their desire or willingness to perform particular tasks, and that the differences may be due, at least in part, to variability in the bees’ personalities.

We are unlikely to ever stop wanting to control and eliminate insects such as fruit flies, house flies, cockroaches and ants that invade our homes and environments, but perhaps their benefits and use as both test subject and medicinal cures can provide a new method of control.