Gay geics | BBC Science Foc Magaze

Contents:

• YOUR GOOD HEALTH: WHY IS ONE ‘INTIL’ TW GAY, THE OTHER STRAIGHT?
• A GAY COUPLE'S FIGHT FOR THEIR TW SON'S CIZENSHIP INSPIR
• YOUR TEXT REVEALS THAT IF ONE INTIL TW IS GAY, THERE IS ALMOST A 50 PERCENT CHANCE THAT THE OTHER INTIL TW WILL ALSO BE GAY. ON THE OTHER HAND, IF A ATERNAL TW IS SCHIZOPHRENIC, THERE IS ONLY ABOUT A 20 PERCENT CHANCE THE OTHER ATERNAL TW WILL BE SCHIZOPHRENIC. THE MEASURE OF LIKELIHOOD THAT TWS WILL SHARE THIS MENTAL ILLNS MON IS LLED A(N)
• SCIENTISTS FD DNA DIFFERENC BETWEEN GAY MEN AND THEIR STRAIGHT TW BROTHERS
• THE REAL STORY ON GAY GEN
• GAY GEICS
• IS A PERSON ‘BORN GAY’, OR IS BEG GAY A LEARNED BEHAVR?
• IS THERE A 'GAY GENE'? AUTHOR SIDDHARTHA MHERJEE EXPLAS

YOUR GOOD HEALTH: WHY IS ONE ‘INTIL’ TW GAY, THE OTHER STRAIGHT?

In a study where scientists looked at the sexual aroal patterns of intil tws wh different sexuali—specifilly, where one was gay and the other was straight—they found that gay tws monstrated more genal aroal rponse to same-sex imag, whereas straight tws monstrated more aroal rponse to oppose-sex imag [2].

Studi have shown that intil tws, if one tw is gay (the term “homosexual” is ed clil studi but is nsired offensive, so I won’t e further), then 30 per cent to 66 per cent of the intil tws also will be gay. However, an adopted siblg of a gay person is also more likely to be gay (11 per cent one study), suggtg that the faial environment also plays a signifint role.

We also heard all the time that men uldn't be feme bee supposedly meant you were gay, but we knew we were attracted to girls and received attentn om them, though neher of dated much until llege. Heterosexual men rpond substantially more to femal than mal, and homosexual men rpond substantially more to mal than femal5, 6, 7, 8; th, on average, genal aroal and pupil dilatn patterns verify men’s reported sexual of all sexual orientatns rpond, on average, wh some level of aroal to erotic stimuli reprentg eher sex. The fdg that heterosexual women are non-specific their rpons to mal or femal, whereas homosexual women rpond more to their preferred sex, was nfirmed wh other measur, cludg reactn time, viewg time, nral activy, and thermography of genalia8, 14, 15, the extent that self-reported differenc intil tws’ sexual orientatns are accurate, their sexual rpons will be siar to those of most heterosexual and homosexual dividuals.

A GAY COUPLE'S FIGHT FOR THEIR TW SON'S CIZENSHIP INSPIR

Hence, male pairs, we predicted that heterosexual tws would show substantially more sexual rpons to the other sex, whereas the homosexual -tws would show more aroal to the same sex.

In female pairs, we predicted that heterosexual tws would show siar sexual rpons to both sex, whereas their homosexual -tws would show somewhat stronger sexual rpons to the same sex than the other sex.

Furthermore, if tws’ sexual rpons reflect general sexual orientatn differenc, then their sexual rpons should be siar effect to the rpons seen unrelated heterosexual and homosexual dividuals. RultsSexual Aroal of Male TwsWe predicted that heterosexual male tws show stronger sexual rpons to the other sex, whereas their homosexual -tws rpond more strongly to the same sex. For tws, penncy of data was acunted for by cludg pairs as a random size imageSexual Aroal of Female TwsWe predicted that heterosexual female tws show siar sexual rpons to both sex, but their homosexual -tws rpond more strongly to the same sex.

YOUR TEXT REVEALS THAT IF ONE INTIL TW IS GAY, THERE IS ALMOST A 50 PERCENT CHANCE THAT THE OTHER INTIL TW WILL ALSO BE GAY. ON THE OTHER HAND, IF A ATERNAL TW IS SCHIZOPHRENIC, THERE IS ONLY ABOUT A 20 PERCENT CHANCE THE OTHER ATERNAL TW WILL BE SCHIZOPHRENIC. THE MEASURE OF LIKELIHOOD THAT TWS WILL SHARE THIS MENTAL ILLNS MON IS LLED A(N)

Their homosexual female -tws also showed genal aroal to the same sex and other sex, each pared wh basele, although somewhat ls so for the latter, p = 0. Panel A picts 9 heterosexual tws and their 9 homosexual -tws, and panel B picts 124 unrelated heterosexual women and 103 unrelated homosexual women. For tws, penncy of data was acunted for by cludg pairs as a random size imageA Comparison of Tws wh Unrelated ParticipantsWe predicted that the difference the tws’ sexual rpons is parable to the difference between unrelated heterosexual and homosexual dividuals.

In most s, the 95% nfince tervals of heterosexual and homosexual tws’ average rpons clud the means of the rrpondg heterosexual and homosexual unrelated groups (Figs 1–4).

SCIENTISTS FD DNA DIFFERENC BETWEEN GAY MEN AND THEIR STRAIGHT TW BROTHERS

DiscsnThe prent study suggts that intil tws wh disrdant self-reported sexual orientatns differ their patterns of physlogil sexual aroal a manner siar to unrelated heterosexual and homosexual dividuals. ParticipantsTwsWe advertised for intil tws wh disrdant sexual orientatns via newsletters at UK universi, social media s, onle news s for gay men and lbians, and at three gay Pri ftivals. Unrelated participantsUnrelated participants took part prevly nducted studi and clud 94 heterosexual men, 97 homosexual men, 77 heterosexual women, and 44 homosexual women wh genal aroal data, and 123 heterosexual men, 136 homosexual men, 124 heterosexual women, and 103 homosexual women wh pupil data5, 6, 8, 33, 34.

THE REAL STORY ON GAY GEN

Heterosexual and homosexual men and women rated the mols on their sexual appeal, and the three hight-rated male and female mols across all rater groups were ed for the 2-mute vios were taken om a nature documentary for asssg basele genal rpons. So, when to monozygotic tws, homosexualy is like other plex personaly tras – they may or may not be shared wh the chanc beg almost impossible to terme Who says this? Neil Whehead, who holds a PhD statistics and bchemistry, the studi have shown repeatedly that beg gay is not based on geics but rather a person’s environment.

Ngun reported that studyg the geic material of 47 pairs of intil male tws, he has intified “epigeic marks” ne areas of the human genome that are strongly lked to male dividuals, said Ngun, the prence of the distct molecular marks n predict homosexualy wh an accuracy of close to 70%. Geicists suggt that together, the human genome and s epigenome reflect the teractn of nature and nurture -- both our fixed herance and our bodi’ flexible rpons to the world -- makg who we ’s study of tws don’t reveal how or when a male tak on the epigenomic marks that distguish him as homosexual.

”To fd the epigenomic markers of male homosexualy, Ngun, a postdoctoral rearcher at UCLA’s Geffen School of Medice, bed through the geic material of 47 sets of intil male tws.

GAY GEICS

But the existence of tw pairs which one is homosexual and the other is not offers strong evince that somethg other than DNA alone fluenc sexual orientatn.

So they unleashed a mache learng algorhm on the data to search for regulari that distguished the epigenom of homosexual tw-pairs om tws which only one was ne pact regns sttered across the genome, they found patterns of epigenomic differenc that would allow a predictn far more accurate than a random gus of an dividual’s sexual orientatn, Ngun reported Thursday. McCarthy and other experts utned that the disvery of epigenomic marks suggtive of homosexualy is a far cry om fdg the of sexual distctive epigenomic marks observed by Ngun and his lleagu uld rult om some other blogil or liftyle factor mon to homosexual men but unrelated to their sexualy, said Universy of Utah geicist Christopher Gregg.

But the existence of intil tw pairs which only one is homosexual “nclively suggt that gen don’t expla everythg, ” Bailey Ngun’s rearch needs to be replited larger studi of tws, advanc the fful procs of better unrstandg how — and when — a boy’s sexual orientatn velops, Bailey me on Twter @LATMelissaHealy and “like” Los Angel Tim Science & Health on rarely get ncer, now scientists thk they know whyThree rearchers w Nobel Prize chemistry for studi of DNA repairMars had a long-lastg seri of lak, NASA’s Cursy rover fds.

IS A PERSON ‘BORN GAY’, OR IS BEG GAY A LEARNED BEHAVR?

Still others, backg the same e, disurage any vtigatn to the blogil origs of sexual orientatn, fearful that posive rults will lead to attempts to rid the world of potential homosexuals.

IS THERE A 'GAY GENE'? AUTHOR SIDDHARTHA MHERJEE EXPLAS

For them, the disvery of how an dividual be gay is likely to shed light on how sexualy-related gen build bras, how people of any persuasn are attracted to each other, and perhaps even how homosexualy evolved. Hamer had jt published a study that claimed not only to have fally proved that male homosexualy was at least partially geic but also to have ppoted the stretch of chromosome where one of the gen volved rid.

Hamer and his lleagu nducted extensive terviews wh 76 pairs of gay brothers and their fay members and found that homosexualy seemed to be hered through the maternal le. For a long perd NIH grant proposals that clud words like “gay, ” “ndom, ” or even “sexualy” were turned down, much to the ire of rearchers like Hamer. Yet Hamer ntends that his rults suggt there is a lk to Xq28 and that the Rice study was biased bee one of the thors told Hamer that he didn’t believe a gay gene uld exist.