Same-sex Attraction Is Genetically Wired In Nematode's Brain. University of Utah biologists genetically manipulated nematode worms so the animals were attracted to worms of the same sex -- part of a study that shows sexual orientation is wired in the creatures' brains. "They look like girls, but act and think like boys," says Jamie White, a postdoctoral researcher and first author of the new study. "The [same-sex attraction] behavior is part of the nervous system. " "The conclusion is that sexual attraction is wired into brain circuits common to both sexes of worms, and is not caused solely by extra nerve cells added to the male or female brain," says laboratory leader and biology Professor Erik Jorgensen, scientific director of the Brain Institute at the University of Utah and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
"The reason males and females behave differently is that the same nerve cells have been rewired to alter sexual preference," he adds. The Rules of Attraction -- for Worms Nematodes are few and far between in soil. ReligiousTolerance.org by the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. What causes sexual orientation? The cause(s) of sexual orientation: Nature vs. Nurture Sponsored link. This topic is continued from an earlier essay Study 16: Based on studies of identical twins who were separated at birth: There have been a number of studies of identical twins who were separated at -- or shortly after -- birth and raised apart from each other. Many studies have shown that if one twin is gay, then the other twin is found to be gay slightly more than half of the time.
If one's homosexual orientation is not at all influenced by genes but is totally determined by the nature of one's upbringing -- e.g. the relationship between child and parent, or by the child being the victim of of sexual molestation, etc. -- then if one twin becomes a gay or lesbian in adulthood, one would expect about 5% of their opposite twins would be gay or lesbian. Consider the genes for: Huntington's Disease: It has two alleles (varieties).
We do not wish to imply that homosexuality is a disease. Biologist Chandler Burr wrote: Mom's Genetics Could Produce Gay Sons. The arrangement of a mother's genes could affect the sexual orientation of her son, according to a new study. The finding, detailed in the February issue of the journal Human Genetics, adds fuel to the decade-long debate about whether so-called "gay genes" might exist. The researchers examined a phenomenon called "X chromosome inactivation" in 97 mothers of gay sons and 103 mothers whose sons were not gay. X and Y Chromosomes are large thread-like molecules that contain an organism's genetic instructions. Humans have 23 chromosome pairs. The X chromosome is one of two sex chromosomes in mammals; the other is the Y chromosome. Females have two X chromosomes and no Y's, while males have one X and one Y. Even though women have two X chromosomes, only one is functional because the other is inactivated through a process called "methylation.
" If one of the females' X chromosomes is not turned off, then there is too much genetic material, which can lead to a harmful overabundance of proteins. Confirmed: God is slightly gay. Just ask the animals. As soon as they stop having all that homosexual sex by Mark Morford July 1, 2009 I am sitting here right now smiling just a little, fondly recalling that famously controversial children’s book, the one about the gay penguins.
Remember? That positively adorable pair of them, at the Central Park Zoo, who had adopted an abandoned egg and then hatched it themselves and were raising the chick together as a couple, even though the chick was clearly not theirs — though of course how penguins can actually tell whose kid is whose is still a question. The best part: the story was absolutely true. For indeed, the penguins in question, named Roy and Silo, were both males. Worst of all, the book depicted this relationship, this “family,” as perfectly OK, as no big deal, as even (shudder) normal. I am right now amused at this because it turns out Roy and Silo were not really so much of an anomaly at all. Wrong. Let’s flip that around. And so we extend the idea just a little bit.