genomeboy.com

Will Saletan parses last week’s paper on sexually antagonistic selection as an explanation for the persistence of male homosexuality through the ages:

Can genes account for these patterns? To find out, the authors posit several possible mechanisms and compute their effects over time. They conclude that only one theory fits the data. The theory is called “sexually antagonistic selection.” It holds that a gene can be reproductively harmful to one sex as long as it’s helpful to the other. The gene for male homosexuality persists because it promotes—and is passed down through—high rates of procreation among gay men’s mothers, sisters, and aunts.

The authors write:

We show that only the two-locus genetic model with at least one locus on the X chromosome, and in which gene expression is sexually antagonistic (increasing female fitness but decreasing male fitness), accounts for all known empirical data.

Bring on the genome-wide association studies…

Six.

That’s how many times I was asked to repeat my name, social security number and date of birth to the technicians at the American Red Cross today. This is how we protect blood recipients?

You know, people, if you give a guy a few Navitinis, he’s probably not gonna remember much at all…

Just sayin’.

Like its competitors, 23andMe offers information about an individual’s disease risk. But it has also opted to emphasize more entertaining approaches to personal genomics, including using colorful visualization tools to look at a subject’s ancestry and compare it with that of celebrities from Jesse James to Benjamin Franklin and Bono. Now, to capitalize on the boom in social networking, the company will launch a genome-sharing tool that allows people to compare their genome with those of family members, friends, and even strangers who have offered up their DNA data. “It seems like the first natural curiosity people have is, where do I come from? What are my roots?” says Linda Avey, who cofounded 23andMe with Anne Wojcicki. “The next natural [question] is, how do I compare to other people?”