Scanner : evolution

I Feel Bad About Your Chin, Meg Ryan

Brian Fairbanks — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:52:00 GMT

A new study indicates women who have stronger chins are more likely to cheat.

Dennis Quaid saw this photo of Meg Ryan and proclaimed, "I should have known..."

According to psychologists at Western Ontario University, women with "larger" chins, like former A-list star Meg Ryan can mean more testosterone:

Larger chins on women are often caused by a high level of the male growth hormone testosterone, present in all women in various amounts.

The hormone also increases sexual assertiveness in a woman, a tendency more commonly attributed to males.

The researchers, from four universities across the US and Canada, took a group of young women and questioned them on their sexual histories and fantasies.

These women were then rated by a group of men on their desirability as a life partner.
It was concluded that men will shun women with such masculine features when looking for a long-term partner because they fear being cuckolded.

Psychologists believe it is linked to their evolutionary desire to have a partner who will produce children for only one man.

We're not sure why being more sexually assertive means you're more likely to cheat on your husband with dopey ol' Russell Crowe, but whatever.

Obama Speechwriter and His Maxim Girl Steam Up the White House

Women Get Away With Affairs Because of Their Expert Lying, Says Woman Who Got Away With An Affair With Future British Prime Minister

Photo Essay: Revenge of the Cheated

Wife Catch You Online Dating? Try Ashley Madison

While You Were Sleeping: Paris Hilton Is Not A Slut

Brian Fairbanks — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:06:00 GMT

Doctors have figured out how to prevent a large number of miscarriages.

Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell are in talks to play villains in Iron Man 2.

If Jeremy Piven turns out to have lied about his mercury poisoning, he could be in deep sheeeeiittt:

According to the New York Post, many involved with the production are pushing to have Piven's high mercury claims examined by a non-musclebound, non-teevee doctor, and they're hoping the result may "squeeze some money out of him."

[U]nder the Actors' Equity contract, the producers are entitled to have Piven's medical records examined by another doctor. If they suspect fraud, they can sue him. [Defamer]

Scarlett Johansson wants to open a brothel... in a movie.

Paris Hilton claims she's only slept with a few guys. In other news, "a few" is now "less than eight hundred."

Isn't there anyone besides Nicole Richie who could star in the Gossip Girl season finale?

Guy Ritchie's heist movies have such brilliant robbery ideas, these dudes decided to plagiarize one.

And Oklahoma introduced legislation to prohibit the teaching of evolution in schools. You'll know America has emerged from the dark ages when laws start getting passed that prevent anything besides evolution from being taught as possible fact.

And Ione Skye (star of Say Anything and River's Edge) and Ben Lee (ex-boyfriend of Claire Danes) married in India.

Related:

Everybody Stay Calm and Think Positive Thoughts

Serial Killer Husband Has A Lotta Damn Gall...

Sloppy Seconds: What Pete Wentz Likes Even More Than Taking Pictures of His Penis

Going On a Manhunt in the 1980's...

Study: Strawberries 'Splain Sex

Emily Farris — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:22:00 GMT

(Sorry, we just love alliteration.)

Anyway, unless you're our mom, or Sarah Palin, you might not argue with the statement that we all came from hermaphrodites. But for years, biologists have tried to figure out why and how the separate male and female sexes evolved.

Now a fruit we already associate with sex may hold the answer.

[R]esearch on wild strawberry plants is providing evidence for such a transition and the emergence of sex, at least in plants. And the results... likely apply to animals like us, the researchers say.

The study showed that two genes located at different spots on a chromosome can cast strawberry offspring as a single sex, a hermaphrodite or a neuter (neither male nor female, and essentially sterile). The researchers suspect the two genes could be responsible for one of the earliest stages of the transition from asexual to sexual beings.

"All of the animals and plants that are bi-sexual, or have two sexes, are theorized to have evolved according to a particular set of steps," said researcher Kim Lewers, a plant geneticist at the USDA's Genetic Improvement of Fruits and Vegetables Lab in Maryland. "Until now, no example had been found of the very earliest steps. Therefore, those steps were undemonstrated to be true."

...

Flowering plants (plants equipped with reproductive organs) weren't around until about 140 million to 180 million years ago. "Within flowering plants, separate sexes is thought to have evolved from hermaphroditism independently and repeatedly among lineages," said researcher Rachel Spigler, a postdoctoral student at the University of Pittsburgh, "so there is no one specific date for the evolution of sex chromosomes in plants."

Lewers, Spigler and their colleagues spotted the genetic mutation in a wild strawberry species, Fragaria virginiana, in which the evolution of separate sexes is not complete. So in addition to male and female strawberry plants, there are also some hermaphrodites and neutered individuals.

Through lab work, including genetic mapping, the researchers figured out how the wacky mix of sexes, or no-sexes, worked.

The plants each have two proto-sex chromosomes. Two spots on each proto-sex chromosome contain sex-determining genes, one that controls sterility and fertility in males and another that does the same in females.

Offspring that inherit both fertility versions are hemaphrodites and can self-breed, while plants that inherit one fertility and one sterility version become either male or female. (A female would result from a sterile male and fertile female combination of genes.) Those that get both sterility versions of the genes are considered neuters and can't reproduce, so they ultimately die out.

While the two sex-determining genes are close to one another on the proto-sex chromosomes, the researchers say they are not completely linked. That's why the strawberry offspring can get such a wild mix of the genes.

On our sex chromosomes, for instance, this mixing and matching is not possible (or at least very rare), because the female chromosome is one unit and so is the male sex chromosome.

Any science geeks out there want to put this in layman's terms for us?

[Live Science: Origin of Sex Pinned Down]

Related:

If You're Not in the Mood This V-Day...

If Your Date Orders Caviar, Almond-Covered Truffles, And Ginger Beer... Now You Know Why

In the News: The Tickler Arrested, Canada's Sex Party Sues

[Image]

While You Were Sleeping: Human Evolution Ended

Brian Fairbanks — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:29:00 GMT

You won't see a better headline all day: "ZZ Top regrets snake tour." And yes, it's worth reading beyond the title for the story of those snakes.

Eric Clapton is selling 13 shotguns. The news here? Eric Clapton is a scary, scary mofo.

Even when she finally got it together to get her own driver, Britney Spears still can't escape trouble on the road...

Accident-prone Britney Spears was reportedly involved in another car crash after she was pursued by the waiting paparazzi in California.
The star - who is due to stand trial after she was caught driving without a license last year - was being chauffeured through West Hollywood when a photographer's car collided with her vehicle, reports celebrity website TMZ.com. [Starpulse]

A Brooklyn, NY arts space has introduced the floating brothel. Unfortunately, it's only for actors.

We're not making up this summary: a South Australian man is believed to have impregnated 30 lesbians. Now, the local community is worried about accidental incest....

And one scientist claims that because old men aren't having as much sex with young lasses anymore, human beings are no longer evolving. We failed science, so trust us, it makes a lot more sense when you just read the article.

A British couple proves recycling is super awesome. Or that airline tickets are super cheap if it involves travel to third world countries, such as the United States. (Again, just read it, you'll see what we mean.)

Related:

Reason #8,847 Not To Sleep With A Bali Hooker...

Man Buys Camera On Ebay, Finds Treasure Trove Of MI6 Secret Documents

Man Claims He Was Robbed By Gang Of Topless Women

Sloppy Seconds: Pete Wentz Puts His Money Where His Penis is Not

Because It's Never Too Early to Start Thinking About Slutty Halloween Costumes

Lady Fish Goes Without Sex For 70,000 Years (And You Thought You Were Going Through A Dry Spell)

Katie Halper — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:15:00 GMT

The female Amazon Molly fish has been using the "I have a head ache" excuse for 700 centuries*, baffling evolutionary scientists and frustrating blue-balled male Molly's. So why is this cold fish, which should have become extinct 70,000 years ago, still flapping around? Scientists think it's the "occasional sex with strangers," "tricks" and "something special going on."

The Telegraph has the story

A female fish which hasn't had full sex for at least 70,000 years is baffling scientists.

Amazon Molly fish defies evolution by reproducing without a male

The Amazon Molly fish defies evolutionary rules by reproducing without the help of a male Molly.

In fact there aren't any male Molly fish and the female relies on a dalliance with males of other species.

This triggers her reproductive cycle but she doesn't seem to use any of the sperm passed by her partner.

And when her young are born they inherit only her genes and nothing from the male.

Scientists at Edinburgh University have been studying the Molly in an effort to discover how the species has managed to survive.

Sex is usually crucial because it enriches the genetic complement, or genome. It mixes genes much more quickly than random DNA mutations and helps new species to evolve and change with their environment.

Normally a creature that reproduces asexually misses out on this opportunity, fails to adapt to changes and eventually succumbs to extinction.

The scientists used powerful computing systems to calculate complex genetic changes over many thousands of generations which should have brought the Molly's tenure on Earth to an end.

They were able to show for the first time that it should have died out 70,000 years ago but in fact it still thrives in rivers in south-east Texas and north-east Mexico.

The researchers suspect it may be using special genetic survival "tricks" which keeps the species going including taking some of the male's DNA to revitalise its gene pool.

Dr Laurence Loewe, of the university's School of Biological Sciences, said: "What we have shown now is that this fish really has something special going on and that some special tricks exist to help this fish survive.

"Maybe there is still occasional sex with strangers that keeps the species alive. Future research may give us some answers."

"I think one of the interesting things is that we are learning more about how other species might use these tricks as well and might have a more general importance."

The Edinburgh-led study was carried out in collaboration with the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the findings are published in the journal BMC Evolutionary Biology.

*CORRECTION (thanks to solstice2005): Scanner Katie originally wrote "Lady Fish Goes Without Sex For 7,000 Years" and for "7 centuries." The correct numbers are, of course, 70,000 and 700 centuries. Scanner Katie just couldn't fathom going without sex for 70,000 years so subconsciously replaced it with the more palatable 7,000-year-long dry spell.

Pretty Soon We'll All Have Boy AND Girl Parts

Emily Farris — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 14:57:00 GMT

Okay, probably not so soon, but according to Wired, ~~Mormons~~ humans are evolving faster than ever.

In the study, researchers analzyed [sic] genomes from 270 people belonging to four disparate ethnic groups: Han Chinese, Africa's Yoruba tribe, Japanese and Utah Mormons. By comparing areas of difference and similarity, they determined that about seven percent of the genome has undergone significant change since the end of the last Ice Age...

"Evolution is a double-edged sword," he said. "What evolution cares about is that I have more offspring. If you can do it by charming and manipulating, and I'm a hardworking farmer that's going to feed the kids ten years down the road, then you're going to win. Hit-and-run, irresponsible males are reproducing more. That isn't good for anyone except those males, but that's evolution."

What we gather this means for us ("us" being humankind, not "us" as in Scanner Bryan and Scanner Emily) is that all the babies we accidentally make will quickly evolve to endure the world that we will have destroyed with Global Warming. Or maybe we can start making human-robot hybrid babies. That would be cool.

[Via Wired]