First up. Gay Worms! Gworms? Gwar might not like that very much, though.
Well, duh. I think most members of the GLBTQ community would be able to tell you that there was a genetic component to it. Why would anyone choose something that causes much stress and discrimination? It was a silly argument to begin with. [O! This reminds me. Even though I have no invested interest in this particular movie, and haven't even seen it yet, I'm quite excited about it and feel the need to hawk it- For the Bible Tells Me So- check it! Site|Trailer] I won't lie though, and say that I feel this has potentially disastrous consequences as well if, as I believe they probably hope to do, scientists begin working on some sort of genetic therapy treatment in which they tamper with peoples sexuality. So maybe people actually will have the option to decide to become a big ol' homo! Or, more likely...for gays to have the option of going straight. I don't know. It just seems like a very messy thing to be tampering with. Sometimes I think science just needs to let things go. I suppose it wouldn't even be an issue though if people could just learn to accept people for who they are and move on with their own lives.CHICAGO (Reuters) - Altering a gene in the brain of female worms changed their sexual orientation, U.S. researchers said on Thursday, making female worms attracted to other females.
The study reinforces the notion that sexual orientation is hard-wired in the brain, said Erik Jorgensen, scientific director of the Brain Institute at the University of Utah.
"They look like girls, but act and think like boys," Utah researcher Jamie White, who worked on the study published in the journal Current Biology, said in a statement.
Researchers in Jorgensen's lab switched on a gene in female worms that makes the body develop male structures, but they only activated the gene in the brain.
As a result, the female worms still had female bodies, but they behaved like males.
"It suggests sexual behavior is encoded in our genes" and not caused by extra nerve cells specific to males or females, Jorgensen said in a telephone interview.
Animals such as nematodes, fruit flies and mice share many of the same genes as humans and are often used as models to understand human genetics.
But Jorgensen said the study is not likely to resolve the burning question about the genesis of sexual orientation in humans. "A human's brain is much more complex than a worm's brain," he said.
Many scientists think a host of factors such as genetics, hormones and environment may play a role in determining sexual orientation in humans, but this has not been proven.
Jorgensen said the study is interesting because it suggests rather than being caused by extra, sex-specific nerve cells, attraction behaviors are part of the same brain circuit.
The finding was part of a study looking at areas in the worms' brains involved in sexual attraction.
LIVE IN DIRT, EAT GERMS
Nematodes, or C. elegans, are tiny worms about one millimeter long that live in the dirt, chomping bacteria. They have no eyes and rely on smell for navigation and propagation.
There are few males, only one in 500, so most of these female nematodes are hermaphrodites, meaning they have both male and female sexual organs. This gives the female worms the ability to fertilize their own eggs and produce offspring in the absence of a male.
"For the most part they are females," Jorgensen said. "It's really hard to tell that they are hermaphrodites, but they do make these few sperm."
When they do mate with males, female worms produce 1,200 progeny, compared with just 200 when they produce their own sperm.
The researchers were trying to understand the underpinnings of sexual attraction in the male nematodes.
They reasoned it could arise from four extra smell-related nerve cells found only in male worm brains, from four core nerves found in both males and females or from a mix of both.
When they systematically neutralized the male-only neurons, mature male worms still responded to the females.
The findings imply nerve cells common to both male and female worms are central to sexual attraction and sexual orientation.
"They have genes for both male behavior and female behavior in them," Jorgensen said. "It suggests the brain determines behavior."
The study expands on prior studies suggesting a genetic component to sexual orientation.
"This is one more observation. We've seen this in flies and in mice," he said. "The difference is we know what cells are involved."
The study was funded by the National Science Foundation.
And now for a word on the wise use of military forces:
BERLIN (Reuters) - Twenty German soldiers were deployed on Friday to help recapture around 17,000 minks on the run.
The animals had been let out from a mink farm into the eastern German countryside by unknown perpetrators, according to police in Stendal, 55 miles west of Berlin.
Local officials and mink farm employees also spent the day trying to trap the animals at large.
"So many minks escaped, I have no idea how many they'll catch," police spokesman Joachim Albrecht said.
Authorities suspect the minks -- small mammals whose fur is used for making expensive coats and accessories -- had been let out by animal rights activists, he said.
Okay. So Miami University has recently [well, as of this school year] started getting the Dayton Daily News in addition to the plethora of Cincinnati and National newspapers. And for this, I am so glad, because it gave me the opportunity to see this wonderful act of juxtaposition in action:
Okay. So let me summarize this for you. One the left we have britney spears in another one of her fantastically dramatic legal debacles. On the right we have her mother announcing her autobiography featuring child-rearing advice and how to turn children into stars. Being published by a publisher of Christian books, nonetheless. I don't even think commentary is really necessary. This is a crazy world we live in, folks.
Today's QUOTE OF THE DAY also doubles as words of wisdom. It's a good good day. Although it's also cheating. since it was said on saturday, and not today.
STEVE: Things probably aren't normal if you're finding them in meteorites.
And with that...
I will leave you some music. one new, one old.
My Favourite Book - Stars [I really love what i've heard of their new album so far. and this song is so hopeful. something that i wouldn't be opposed to having more of. And their tours are now Carbon neutral - yAy environmentalism!]
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) - Arcade Fire [inspired by the fact that i'm watching Chuck and he/[his character?] has great taste in music]
on the note of music...have any of you heard of the band The Cave Singers? I'm thinking I should recommend them to my dad. He likes hearing about new music when it's something that he'll actually listen to, but he definitely has his heart set on people like Van Morrison and old school classic folk rocker type people. And i feel like The Cave Singers have a James Taylor-esque quality about them- or am i way off base? I think maybe he would like them.
peace&puppyciao
br@nd0n
