Sexual Orientation: Genetic, Not Heretic
I just had to post this one up.
Researchers in Vienna have found a single gene responsible for sexual orientation - at least with fruit flies.
The IHT reports 030605:
"We have shown that a single gene in the fruit fly is sufficient to determine all aspects of the flies' sexual orientation and behavior - it's very surprising,"said Barry Dickson, senior scientist at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna and the paper's lead author.
Update: I'm also compelled to include a quote from Michael Weiss, chairman of biochemistry at Case Western Reserve University in the US. His comments are (potentially) significant for the way forward in political discourse on sexuality, in our decreasingly secular society:
Hopefully this will take the discussion about sexual preferences out of the realm of morality and put it in the realm of science.
It'll be interesting to see how this plays out in the media: churches, GLBT groups, politicians, US, SG.
Credits to Ben for the scoop.
Technorati: science, genetics, homosexuality, GLBT, LGBT
ao longo de garota a 11:41
11 Comments:
wah, you don't sleep, do you ?
4/6/05 12:15
What he said... don't forget to study!
Hrmmm... these fruit flies seem to be a gold mine of sorts for genetic research - i recall reading another article that stated that they have also managed to isolate the gene that controls maturity from the fruit fly (that is, the timing of maturation).
You can find it here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4602563.stm
Interestingly, i'm just wondering if there could be a link of sorts between this gene and that of sexual orientation...
4/6/05 17:34
johnny m: my body and my mind are in a constant schizophrenic schism on the neccessity of sleep. lol.
burn666: thanks for the link, i do remember reading about that report as well. also, hmm, that's an interesting idea - considering sexual maturation is often a precursor to the development of sexual orientation...
4/6/05 20:05
i finally downloaded Firefox.
hope you're happy beatch. you just took up 5 mb of my disk space... >)
-jw
5/6/05 15:27
Golly bern, you must feel so loved. FIVE mb leh. I wish I were worth that much. hah.
6/6/05 10:45
Brilliant, now if only they'd find the gene that controls sleep and mood!
6/6/05 12:40
jw: awww so schweeet. i think you'll be happier with it though :)
johnny m: behave yourself, boy. and i'm not about to give you bait for the fishing. x
lemming: oh, just *tell* me about it man.
7/6/05 01:18
Lemming: Erm... they have. For the sleep one, you can read about it here (its them damn fruit flies again):
http://www.news-medical.net/?id=9589
The mood one is a little more varied and they tend to concentrate on identifying those genes (or the combination of genes acting in unison with other factors affecting the person or the person's environment) for many mood-related problems such as bipolar disorder or manic depression.
Here's the one on manic depression for example:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2985092.stm
I need to get a life. :p
7/6/05 14:44
What fishing and what bait?
8/6/05 11:02
johnny m: it's ok. the moment has passed. if it presents itself again, i shall be more explicit. ;)
8/6/05 12:09
See, this commenting thing does work out! Hahahaha.
Wrt to bait and fishing: I don't want to wait for moment to come again, i want it now. NOW NOW NOW! muahahahha
10/6/05 09:35
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