Genomes, Souls, and Cousins

You may have heard the news. Humans and Neanderthals, apparently, had sex with each other at some time. Shocking, yes, I know. But the newish technology of sequencing genomes is turning up all sorts of fascinating (and potentially scandalous) data. In NatureNews Online you can read more about it.

The researchers arrived at that conclusion by studying genetic data from 1,983 individuals from 99 populations in Africa, Europe, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. Sarah Joyce, a doctoral student working with Long, analyzed 614 microsatellite positions, which are sections of the genome that can be used like fingerprints. She then created an evolutionary tree to explain the observed genetic variation in microsatellites. The best way to explain that variation was if there were two periods of interbreeding between humans and an archaic species, such as Homo neanderthalensis or H. heidelbergensis.

Speculation over Neanderthal/Human interaction has been ongoing for a long time. Some of the idiosyncrasies of the Basque language have even been hypothesized to have resulted from such interaction, as that region of Europe seems to have been the last place Neanderthal was known to live. That they shared space---and perhaps much more---with humans is, to say the least, and intriguing notion. [More . . . ]

Continue ReadingGenomes, Souls, and Cousins

FOX News’ Brit Hume to Tiger Woods: Become a Christian

Brit Hume, managing editor at FOX news suggested on the air that Tiger Woods should become a Christian, indicating that Christianity is superior to the Buddhism practiced by Woods. Sure enough, but when famous Christians like these get involved in well-publicized scandals, perhaps they ought to become Buddhists.

Continue ReadingFOX News’ Brit Hume to Tiger Woods: Become a Christian

Internet porn and sexual irresponsibility

Remember the old argument that porn encourages rape? I've always been suspicious. It would seem that men who relieve their sexual frustrations in private would be less likely to harass real life women. I've sometimes wondered, then, whether sexual assaults have decreased since Internet porn has become more readily available. Here are some rather startling statistics, and they suggest that many measures of sexual irresponsibility have decreased with the increased availability of Internet porn. This includes a decrease in sexually transmitted infections, teen sex, divorce, and rape (since 1995, rape has decreased by 44 percent). This article at Psychology Today concludes: "If Internet porn affects society, oddly enough, it looks beneficial. Perhaps mental health professionals should encourage men to view it."

Continue ReadingInternet porn and sexual irresponsibility

Animal sex, anyone?

These thirty stories about animal sex are stranger than fiction. I had heard of many of these stories before, but hadn't known about all of these stories featured at "Neatorama." I found this site looking for a video of porcupines having sex--I heard porcupine sex described by psychologist John Gottman tonight and I wanted to see it for myself. If anyone locates a video of porcupines having sex, do share! I've seen videos of some of these thirty stories featured on David Attenborough's nature documentaries. And I had previously seen a spectacular video of two flatworms mating on the video "The Shape of Life." In fact, I found a another video of flatworms mating in the video below (as well as the mating of other invertebrates including sponges (sponges are animals!), jellies and horseshoe crabs--you'll see the hermaphroditic flatworms double-penis-fencing at the 4:30 mark--the one who loses this battle has to be pregnant): But back to the site featuring the 30 most unusual animal sex stories . . . I had never before seen the video of the moonwalking manakin, which made me chuckle. The clownfish story was ironic in light of Disney's Nemo. The detachable penis of the nautilus probably wins the day. But there are so many worthy contenders for most bizarre animal sex . . . I'm glad that this website includes links to the sources of most of the stories because some of them are quite difficult to believe. But then again those other species would probably think it bizarre the way we humans display our sexuality and mate. It's probably a matter of perspective. Truly, all of these stories are stranger than fiction. Amazing.

Continue ReadingAnimal sex, anyone?