Andrew Sullivan Suicide Watch: Science "Cures" Teh Ghey

It's true and it's fabulous!

From the article:

A new study finds that both drugs and genetic manipulation can turn the homosexual behavior of fruit flies on and off within a matter of hours.

That drug that turns gayness on and off? Ecstasy

While the genetic finding supports the thinking that homosexuality is hard-wired, the drug finding surprisingly suggests it's not that simple.

In fact, homosexuality in the fruit flies seems to be regulated by how they interpret the scent of another.

I'm beginning to understand the conundrum that is French masculinity now.

In the new work, University of Illinois at Chicago researcher David Featherstone and coworkers discovered a gene in fruit flies they call "genderblind," or GB. A mutation in GB turns flies bisexual.

In humans this "gene" is known as "appletinis" and "Madonna Concerts."

Post-doctoral researcher Yael Grosjean found that all male fruit flies with a mutation in their GB gene courted other males.

"It was very dramatic," Featherstone said. "The GB mutant males treated other males exactly the same way normal male flies would treat a female. They even attempted copulation."

Fly on Fly action is HOTT! Just ask Larry Craig. He's known to keep a sharp eye out for flies.

"Based on our previous work, we reasoned that GB mutants might show homosexual behavior because their glutamatergic synapses were altered in some way," Featherstone said. "Homosexual courtship might be sort of an 'overreaction' to sexual stimuli."

GB Mutants. Putting the S-E-X in Professor X since 2007.

The team figured fly brains maintain two sensory circuits: one to trigger heterosexual behavior and one for homosexual. When GB suppresses glutamatergic synapses, the homosexual circuit is blocked, the thinking goes.

So they did more tests. As expected, without GB to suppress synapse strength, the flies no longer interpreted smells the same way. The smells in question come in the form of pheromones, chemicals that affect sexual behavior in much of the animal kingdom.

Pheromones? More like Fairy-Moans if you ask me.

It is not known, however, to what extent human attraction is affected by pheromones. A study in 2005 found that when smelling a chemical from testosterone, portions of the human brains active in sexual activity were turned on in gay men and straight women, but not in straight men.

But at least among fruit flies, "pheromones are powerful sexual stimuli," Featherstone said. "As it turns out, the GB mutant flies were perceiving pheromones differently. Specifically, the GB mutant males were no longer recognizing male pheromones as a repulsive stimulus."

So, I guess, science is telling us that "teh ghey" could be cured with just a little help from the aromatherapy section at Bed, Bath and Beyond.

Which confuses me, because as we all know, aromatherapy is completely gay.

It's the little unexpected irony's in life that make it worth living. Well that and the invariable Sullivan freakout.

We might even have to resurrect the Sullivan Freak Out Index once he gets word of this development!

posted by Jack M. at 03:50 PM

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