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One of life’s tragedies is to be born a woman in a man’s body. Now researchers have found a genetic cause for this.

DNA analysis of over 100 transsexuals showed that all of them had a longer version of the male androgen receptor gene, meaning that this essential male hormone may not be have reached their brains efficiently while they were in the womb.

BBC News quotes researcher Lauren Hare as saying, “We think that these genetic differences might reduce testosterone action and under masculinize the brain during fetal development.”

BBC quotes researcher Vincent Harley as saying, “There is a social stigma that transsexualism is simply a lifestyle choice, however our findings support a biological basis of how gender identity develops.”
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…on controversial issues – In a political season, we hear statements about the Catholic church that don’t reflect what has been historically true: it has in the past sanctioned both gay marriage and abortion.

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Biden is telling the Catholics in his audiences that St. Thomas Aquinas had a different teaching on abortion than the current pope and his immediate predecessors. Many Catholics are saying, “He simply cannot be right.” Well, the short answer is: Biden is right. The news media are saying that American bishops are giving him a theology lesson on abortion. Mr. Biden is in a position to give them one right back.
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When vision is lost, a person’s senses of touch and hearing become enhanced. But exactly how this happens has been unclear. And why do we have two eyes that face forward, rather than eyes on the sides of heads, the way most animals do?

Complete loss of vision leads to profound changes in the visual cortex of the brain. Researcher Alvaro Pascual-Leone says, “In our studies [in which a group of sighted study subjects were blindfolded for five days], we have shown that even in an adult, the normally developed visual system quickly becomes engaged to process touch in response to complete loss of sight.”
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When attacked, plants use bugs to protect themselves and to retaliate. It turns out they can also defend themselves by using their roots to secrete acid that brings bacteria to the rescue.

This quashes the misperception that plants are at the mercy of passing pathogens and sheds new light on a sophisticated signaling system inside plants that rivals the nervous system in humans and animals.

Researcher Harsh Bais says, “Plants are a lot smarter than we give them credit for. People think that plants, rooted in the ground, are just sitting ducks when it comes to attack by harmful fungi or bacteria, but we’ve found that plants have ways of seeking external help.”
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