This is scientific Americans 60 second science. I'm Karen Hopkins. This will just take a minute.

You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, but if you want to kill them, you might try trivia, because a new study shows that the active ingredient in this popular sweetener can act as an insecticide.

The study began as a sixth grade science fair project.

11-year-old Simon Cashock Miranda noticed that his parents had stopped using sugar.

So he decided to see how different sweeteners affect the health of fruit flies.

He and his dad, a card-carrying biologist, offered the flies food spiked with a variety of

no-cal sweeteners. Six days into the experiment, all the Truvia fed flies were dead,

while those stuck with sweet and low

splenda or equal lived five to seven weeks.

Why Truvia makes flies drop like flies is still a mystery.

Back in the lab, the researchers confirmed that the bugs weren't

starving. They all continued to eat.

Most actually seemed to prefer Truviate a real sugar when offered a choice.

Findings published in the journal Ploss 1.

Next, the researchers will see if the sweetener kills other bugs like cockroaches or ants.

Until then, try tossing a little Truvia in your coffee.

And on the counter.

Thanks for the minute.

For Scientific Americans 60 Second Science, I'm Karen Hopkins.