Something intriguing and scary: University of Illinois at Chicago researchers have isolated a gene that makes fruitflies bisexual. I'm all for science but if they can figure out a way to "turn it on or off" they may try to prevent it entirely:
"Researchers tested this idea by adding a drug to the flies' apple juice. The drug weakened the synapses. So within a few hours, flies with the GB mutation stopped engaging in homosexual behavior.
Conversely, researchers gave heterosexual male flies a drug that strengthened their synapses. Sure enough, these male flies soon were courting males as well as females.
"It was amazing," Featherstone said. "I never thought we'd be able to do that sort of thing, because sexual orientation is supposed to be hard-wired. This fundamentally changes how we think about this behavior.' "
