Gay Male Brain Found to Resemble Straight Female Brain

Calling it the "most robust measure" done of the differences in brain architecture and activity between gay and straight people, a Swedish researcher reports that gay people show striking similarities in brain structure and activity to heterosexual people of the opposite sex:

"First they used MRI scans to find out the overall volume and shapes of brains in a group of 90 volunteers consisting of 25 heterosexuals and 20 homosexuals of each gender. The results showed that straight men had asymmetric brains, with the right hemisphere slightly larger – and the gay women also had this asymmetry. Gay men, meanwhile, had symmetrical brains like those of straight women. The team next used PET scans to measure blood flow to the amygdala, part of the brain that governs fear and aggression. The images revealed how the amygdala connected to other parts of the brain, giving clues to how this might influence behaviour. They found that the patterns of connectivity in gay men matched those of straight women, and vice versa (see image, above right). In straight women and gay men, the connections were mainly into regions of the brain that manifest fear as intense anxiety. 'The regions involved in phobia, anxiety and depression overlap with the pattern we see from the amygdala,' says Savic. This is significant, she says, and fits with data showing that women are three times as likely as men to suffer from mood disorders or depression. Gay men have higher rates of depression too, she says, but it's difficult to know whether this is down to biology, homophobia or simply feelings of being 'different'."

New Scientist calls it "the most compelling evidence yet" that sexuality is a biologically fixed trait.

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Vatican: Belief in God and Aliens Do Not Conflict

Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, a 45-year-old Jesuit priest who is head of the Vatican Observatory and a scientific adviser to Pope Benedict, said in an interview with Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano that there is no conflict between a belief in God and a belief in alien life forms.

Said Funes: "In my opinion this possibility (of life on other planets) exists. How can we exclude that life has developed elsewhere. Certainly, in a universe this big you can't exclude this hypothesis. Just as there is a multiplicity of creatures on earth, there can be other beings, even intelligent, created by God. This is not in contrast with our faith because we can't put limits on God's creative freedom. Why can't we speak of a 'brother extraterrestrial'? It would still be part of creation."

The Vatican, however, still appears to view gays as not worthy of 'brother' status.

In related news, the British government released eight files on UFO sightings that had previously been classified as part of 200 that are to be released over the next four years:

"A spokesman for the National Archives said they were now becoming available after several requests made under the Freedom of Information Act, and also because of a 'proactive move by the Ministry of Defence for an open and transparent government'."

The files are readable here.

Meanwhile, statements about God were revealed in a letter written by Albert Einstein to be auctioned this week. Said Einstein: "The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this."

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Jill Bolte Taylor's Stroke of Insight

Here's a fascinating lecture from the TED talks series which was posted to their site this month. TED is an annual conference which brings together great minds in the worlds of Technology, Entertainment, and Design.

In this talk, neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor discusses the day she realized that she was having a massive stroke and describes, as only a brain scientist can, how she experienced it and what she learned from it.

If you have 20 minutes to spare I recommend it.

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

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Reconnaissance Orbiter Photographs Avalanche on Mars

NASA has released some interesting rare shots taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter last month, of an avalanche occurring off a 2,300 foot cliff at the planet's north pole.

NASA writes: "Cameras orbiting Mars have taken thousands of images that have enabled scientists to put together pieces of Mars' geologic history. However, most of them reveal landscapes that haven't changed much in millions of years. Some images taken at different times of year do show seasonal changes from one image to the next, however, it is extremely rare to catch such a dramatic event in action. (Another, unrelated, active process that has been captured by Mars cameras are dust devils.) Observing currently active processes is often a useful tool in unlocking puzzles of the past for scientists studying the Earth."

These images offer a better picture of the context of the slide, "with white boxes indicating the locations of the more detailed image portions shown to the right."

I sincerely hope the Mars alien was not skiing at the time.

Recent space oddities...
This Week's Alien Theories Debunked...or Not! [tr]
This Week's Lunar Eclipse [tr]
Navy Missile Strikes Spy Satellite - Video [tr]
Virgin Galactic Spacecraft Unveiled in New York [tr]
Messenger from Earth Reveals Mercury for First Time [tr]

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News: Beijing Stadium, Idaho, Amy Winehouse, Martian, Brad Pitt

CROOKS: Emails went missing from Bush and Cheney offices the very day Alberto Gonzalez "ordered the president and the vice president's staff to 'preserve all materials that might be relevant' to an inchoate Justice Department probe."

Mysterious 'alien' figure spotted in Martian landscape!

Pentagon releases statement on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, saying it is continuing to discharge gay and lesbian soldiers even though reports have shown a recent major drop in such cases. Statement: "Our policy implements the law Congress passed after prolonged research and debate. The department will continue to follow congressional mandate on homosexual conduct. We can't speculate as to why the number of discharges has declined."

Amy Winehouse in downward spiral — caught smoking crack ON VIDEO.

European Court of Human Rights rules: France discriminated against lesbian mother by refusing to allow her to adopt a child. "The judges decided that the woman was a victim of discrimination because of her sexual orientation. They said her right to family life under the European Convention on Human Rights had also been infringed. France has been told to pay her damages...The court's ruling in Strasbourg on Tuesday noted that: 'French law allowed single persons to adopt a child, thereby opening up the possibility of adoption by a single homosexual.' The court criticised the French judiciary's emphasis on "the lack of a paternal referent in the household" in the case of the lesbian woman, who was identified only as E.B. The reference to the applicant's homosexuality had been "if not explicit, at least implicit," the ruling said."

Beijing builds giant nest as Olympic Stadium.

Nothing gets between Brad Pitt and his Edwins.

The coldest place in the universe was recently observed...right here on Earth: "The record-breaking lows were among the latest feats of ultracold physics, the laboratory study of matter at temperatures so mind-bogglingly frigid that atoms and even light itself behave in highly unusual ways. Electrical resistance in some elements disappears below about minus 440°F, a phenomenon called superconductivity. At even lower temperatures, some liquefied gases become "superfluids" capable of oozing through walls solid enough to hold any other sort of liquid; they even seem to defy gravity as they creep up, over and out of their containers."

The Mr. Gay International swimsuit competition - on video.

Dow plunges 465 points, then recovers most of it after Federal Reserve interest rate emergency cut: "The U.S. markets joined a global selloff amid growing fears that a recession in the United States could send economies around the world into a downturn. Though stocks regained ground as investors digested the Fed's move to cut its benchmark federal funds rate by 0.75 percentage point and as bargain-hunters entered the market, trading remained volatile and the major indexes fluctuated sharply, at times approaching the break-even point before heading down again." Bernanke setting the stage for an even bigger recession?

Did Katie Holmes fake running the New York Marathon? Plenty of evidence seems to suggest that maybe she did.

Idaho legislature floats first-ever anti-discrimination bill that includes gays and lesbians: "Leslie Goddard, director of the Human Rights Commission beautifully presented the bill after an introduction by Senator Tim Corder, a major sponsor or the legislation. Some may remember the Mountain Home Republican Senator from a City Club debate in 2006 or from his past vote to ban gay marriage in Idaho's Constitution. His support of this year's legislation speaks loudly to the fundamental fairness implicit in the issue of employment discrimination and to the progress made on understanding of these issues over the years."

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Messenger from Earth Reveals Mercury for First Time

Two days ago, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft was the second in history to make a pass by Mercury, the solar system's innermost planet. No such pass has been made for over 30 years, since Mariner 10's mission in the mid-70's, during which time the photographic technology was, of course, much less advanced. Also, at that time scientists were not able to photograph much of the planet's surface.

The new Mercury images show parts of the hemisphere never seen before, and there are more to come: "Other images obtained during the flyby will reveal surface features in color and in much more detail. Collectively, these images and measurements made by other MESSENGER instruments will soon provide a detailed global view of the surface of Mercury, yielding key information for understanding the formation and geologic history of the innermost planet."

While there are no erupting volcanoes, as far as space porn goes the views of the planet closest to the sun are still pretty hot (so to speak).

(high-res here)

You may have missed...
New Horizons Visits Jupiter and Io [tr]
Spaced Out [tr]
Giant Spider Attacks the Atlantis Space Shuttle [tr]
The ISS from Orbit [tr]

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UK Researcher: Women and Gay Men are Worst Drivers

I'm sure many of you would beg to differ.

The Times Online reports:

"Both tend to rely on local landmarks to get around, and are also slower to take in spatial information. The computer-based tests were carried out on 140 volunteers, and demonstrated that gay men, straight women and lesbians navigated in a similar way, sharing the same weaknesses. The results back earlier studies supporting the stereotype that women are poor navigators. Although women are more successful in tests requiring them to remember the position of objects, men consistently do better in tasks requiring navigation and uncovering hidden objects."

The lead researcher, Dr Qazi Rahman, did say that "divisions between sexual groups were not straightforward" and that "Gay people appear to show a ‘mosaic’ of performance, parts of which are male-like and other parts of which are female-like."

Women and gay men are 'worst drivers' [telegraph]

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Scientists Prove the Six Beer Theory on Male Fruit Flies

Scientists feeding alcohol to fruit flies in an experimental "flypub" have demonstrated that, once intoxicated, the sexual inhibitions of male fruit flies are loosened and the flies begin to demonstrate a willingness to copulate with the same sex. They even have orgies.

NewScientist reports:

"The researchers got the flies drunk on the fumes of an ethanol-doused cotton pad placed at the base of the chamber, and filmed them using a camera held above the Flypub’s transparent ceiling. Male Drosophila will normally only court females, following them and vibrating their wings in a courtship 'song', before attempting to copulate. The first time they were exposed to alcohol, groups of male flies became noticeably intoxicated but kept themselves to themselves. But with repeated doses of alcohol on successive days, homosexual courtship became common. From the third day onwards, the flies were forming 'courtship chains' of up to five amorous males."

The temperature-triggered release of the brain chemical dopamine was identified as the key element behind the change in behavior.

Check out the videos here.

More on that six beer theory here (warning NSFW).

Randy flies reveal how booze affects inhibitions [new scientist]

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Scientists: Brain Chemical Reverses Sleep Deprivation

Scientists have discovered a brain chemical that appears to reverse the effects of sleep deprivation when snorted:

"Orexin A is a promising candidate to become a "sleep replacement" drug. For decades, stimulants have been used to combat sleepiness, but they can be addictive and often have side effects, including raising blood pressure or causing mood swings. The military, for example, administers amphetamines to pilots flying long distances, and has funded research into new drugs like the stimulant modafinil and orexin A in an effort to help troops stay awake with the fewest side effects. The monkeys were deprived of sleep for 30 to 36 hours and then given either orexin A or a saline placebo before taking standard cognitive tests. The monkeys given orexin A in a nasal spray scored about the same as alert monkeys, while the saline-control group was severely impaired."

While the research is interesting, I can't imagine that an eventual drug made from this substance wouldn't lead to a whole host of new health issues for those who abuse it.

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Researchers Develop Battery with 10X Charge of Existing Ones

I doubt you woke up this morning expecting to read an article about batteries on Towleroad, but a tipster sent this in to us and I think it's pretty exciting news. Via Daily Kos, some "revolutionary" innovations that will please anyone who uses an iPod, a cell phone, a laptop, even folks with electric cars:

"Stanford researchers have found a way to use silicon nanowires to reinvent the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that power laptops, iPods, video cameras, cell phones, and countless other devices. The new version, developed through research led by Yi Cui, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, produces 10 times the amount of electricity of existing lithium-ion, known as Li-ion, batteries. A laptop that now runs on battery for two hours could operate for 20 hours, a boon to ocean-hopping business travelers."

The secret is silicon nanowires rather than carbon lithium storage. Here's how it works:

"Silicon placed in a battery swells as it absorbs positively charged lithium atoms during charging, then shrinks during use (i.e., when playing your iPod) as the lithium is drawn out of the silicon. This expand/shrink cycle typically causes the silicon (often in the form of particles or a thin film) to pulverize, degrading the performance of the battery. Cui's battery gets around this problem with nanotechnology. The lithium is stored in a forest of tiny silicon nanowires, each with a diameter one-thousandth the thickness of a sheet of paper. The nanowires inflate four times their normal size as they soak up lithium. But, unlike other silicon shapes, they do not fracture."

Daily Kos writes: "Standford's ten-times extra capacity also makes entirely new things possible, like electric airplanes, ships, hovercraft, helicopters, etc. It could make the internal combustion engine completely obsolete. And here's the kicker: This technology could be available in just a couple years, because all the elements - silicon, lithium, etc. - are fairly well understood already. The big losers in this race would be Detroit and Big Oil. Therefore, look for them to try stopping this amazing new invention from ever hitting the market."

Stanford's nanowire battery holds 10 times the charge of existing ones [stanford news service]
Stanford Battery Breakthrough [daily kos]

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Scientists Turn Homosexuality On and Off in Fruit Flies

A team of researchers was able to alter the sexuality of fruit flies within a few hours by altering a key neurotransmitter in the flies' brains which they had earlier determined factored into the sexuality of the tiny insects.

LiveScience reports: "'Based on our previous work, we reasoned that GB mutants might show homosexual behavior because their glutamatergic synapses were altered in some way,' Featherstone said. 'Homosexual courtship might be sort of an 'overreaction' to sexual stimuli.' To test this, the researchers genetically altered synapse strength, independent of GB. They also gave flies drugs to alter synapse strength. As predicted, they were able to turn fly homosexuality on and off, within hours. 'It was amazing. I never thought we'd be able to do that sort of thing, because sexual orientation is supposed to be hard-wired,' Featherstone said. 'This fundamentally changes how we think about this behavior.' The team figured fly brains maintain two sensory circuits: one to trigger heterosexual behavior and one for homosexual. When GB suppresses glutamatergic synapses, the homosexual circuit is blocked, the thinking goes. So they did more tests. As expected, without GB to suppress synapse strength, the flies no longer interpreted smells the same way. The smells in question come in the form of pheromones, chemicals that affect sexual behavior in much of the animal kingdom."

These scientists might want to speak with scientists in the UK who used pheromones to halt the population explosion of brown-tailed moths. Men living and working at a Royal National Lifeboat Institute at Spurn Point in Yorkshire "were developing rashes and breathing problems from the poisonous hairs of the larvae blown in the wind" because there were so many moths. Once the pheromones were spread, the moths became confused and some were persuaded to be gay.

You may have missed...
Gaydar: Do You Have A Counter-Clockwise Whorl [tr]
Gay Flamingos Adopt Abandoned Chick in Britain [tr]
Researchers: Captivity Brings Out the Lesbian in Koalas [tr]
San Francisco Gay Penguins Move in, Improve Neighborhood [tr]

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Drifting Above the Planet

You may have seen those scary maps of the United States that show thousands of aircraft over the country at any given time. Check out this page for a series of quicktime movies of flight pattern visualizations — a must for map lovers or stats addicts. They're part of a larger project called Celestial Mechanics. This was presented in 2006, so it's not new, but it's new to me.

This visualization, set to music, is particularly tranquil and hypnotic. If only that could be said for real air travel.

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News: ENDA, Diane Arbus, Iraq Deaths, Elizabeth Taylor

Polling agency suggests more than 1,000,000 Iraqi citzens killed since U.S. invaded Iraq.

Wentworth Miller's Prison Break co-star Dominic Purcell gets behind actor's gay denial: "People like to jump to conclusions about him. Went is not gay. I’ve tried it on him many times and he just buffs me right back."

Will Elizabeth Taylor marry for the ninth time?

Gay soldiers react to bigoted comments by General Peter Pace. Antonio Agnone: ""I was actually shocked that he stumbled back into that area of questioning. When he talks about morality, that doesn't have any place. His personal beliefs shouldn't be what he's relying on a day-to-day basis. He broke regulations; he's not supposed to voice his personal opinion."

Democratic Leadership in the House considering dropping trans-inclusive language from the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Lane Hudson: "Democrats in general have come under fire from gay activists and funders for a lack of action on legislative priorities such as ENDA and hate crimes. HRC has also come under criticism for the same lack of progress. Both are desperately in need of substantive victories to appease their constituencies. In addition, Speaker Pelosi is slated to receive a major award at HRC's National Dinner next weekend. It's unclear how she will be received in light of this development. All of this boils down to whether we should sacrifice transgender inclusion in the ENDA legislation in order to pass a bill in the immediate future. For me, the answer is simple. No one should be left behind at the convenience of others. It is a moral obligation and a defining moment in the movement for equal rights under the law."

Awards honor best science images of 2007.

Illegal immigrant loses life savings in pursuit of American Dream.

Matthew McConaughey looks awfully strange with clothes on.

Bill O'Reilly on critics of his Harlem restaurant remarks: "[I]f I could strangle these people and not go to hell and get executed ... I would -- but I can't. ... All I can do is expose them. And I will."

Remember the Diane Arbus twins? Now they're all grown up.

Iowa pastors plan October 28 rally supporting amendment to ban gay marriage: "This is not about hate but about differences of beliefs. God's word is clear to us that marriage is only between one man and woman."

Three women in Chicago accuse off-duty police officer of threatening them and roughing them up after this year's pride parade: "According to the lawsuit, a vehicle driven by Fuery came upon a car moving at 30 mph on Interstate 55 after the June 24 parade. Fuery beeped her horn, and Szura responded by slamming on his brakes, speeding up and switching lanes, making it impossible for Fuery to pass, the lawsuit said. Fuery was forced to the shoulder, where Szura screamed words such as 'dyke' and spit at her, according to the lawsuit. The women claim he stuck a gun in Fuery's abdomen, 'causing her to fear for her life.'"

Rosie O'Donnell hangs with her Nip/Tuck castmates.

Meet Project Runway 4's Jack Mackenroth...

A look at at John Edwards' proposed HIV/AIDS program.

Anti-gay lawyer Jack Thompson may be brought down for presenting a judge with graphic gay porn photos as evidence in a suit against gay publisher Norm Kent.

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Stephen Hawking, Freed from Earthly Handicap, Flies

Now that's a picture.

Professor Stephen Hawking, wheelchair-bound due to Lou Gehrig's disease for nearly 40 years and unable to speak or move his arms and legs, became the first person with such a disability to experience weightlessness on a zero-gravity jet.

Hawking said on Thursday: "I want to demonstrate to the public that anybody can participate in this type of weightless experience. I have been wheelchair-bound for almost four decades. The chance to float free in zero-g will be wonderful."

His verdict? "It was amazing."

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Crayfish Don't Take it Outside, They Take It to the Bedroom

Male crayfish fake sex with one another to exert dominance and reduce violence, LiveScience has reported. It's the first such behavior observed in invertebrates.

Among 20 pairs of adult male crayfish tested, pseudocopulation attempts happened in 16 pairs. In 12 of these pairs, the male that was forced into the subordinate role submitted, leading to pseudocopulation nearly identical to normal sexual copulation for seven seconds to about nine minutes. In the other four pairs, the male that was forced into the subordinate role refused all attempts.

In pairs that pseudocopulated, initial levels of aggressive behavior between the males—such as claw attacks or offensive tail flips— declined significantly during the first hour of interaction. All these animals survived over the first 24 hours.

However, in the male pairs that did not pseudocopulate, initial levels of aggression did not slack off during the first hour. Half of the subordinate males were killed, dismembered and partially eaten during the first 24 hours.

Make love not war.

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News: Mars, Ricky Martin, Mexico City, Paul Rudnick Play

University of Wisconsin-Madison professors consider leaving after gay marriage amendment defeat, citing lack of benefits.

Scissor Sisters set attendance record at stadium in Birmingham, England.

It'll be a gay ol' New Years in Edinburgh when Robbie Williams joins the Pet Shop Boys in concert and they perform their collaborative homage to Madge, called "She's Madonna". The song is to be released as a single in January.

Actor sends out press release about Tom Cruise gay sex polaroids just in time for Rome wedding. Of course, timing had nothing to do with it: "Understandably, Mark is trying to completely avoid the media coverage of Mr. Cruise's Scientology wedding..."

Legislation recognizing gay unions in Mexico City gets public airing.

Mars Rover celebrates 1000th day with crater porn.

Ricky Martin abandoned his child when he was younger — his inner child.

In Regrets Only, Paul Rudnick asks, what if 'fashionable' gays went on a one-day strike in support of gay marriage? Rudnick: "Certainly there are plenty of straight designers and straight caterers. But still, I think if we were being absolutely realistic, if all the gay people at a certain level of Manhattan socializing decided to take the day off, they could make a lot of trouble."

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News: Sea Monster Discovered, Sex Party Death, Pelosi's 100 Hours

Nancy Pelosi's 100-hour plan.

Scientists discover massive sea-dwelling reptile fossil: "It's like a sea lion with a crocodile skull in the front but it's a 10-meter (33-foot) sea lion, the size of a bus. Its jaw features a hundred or so teeth, some of which are 'the size of cucumber.' Imagine that its teeth were placed around a tongue on which a grown man could lie down before being swallowed in a single gulp."

Iraq: Tony Snow spins Bush' statement that bloodshed in Iraq is 'just a comma'; Journalist Michael Ware slams Condoleezza Rice on recent statements about the situation in Baghdad: "U.S. Officials and contractors and all manner of people will come into six to 12 months in Iraq. But never leave the green zone. They don't know even what it's like to walk an Iraqi street. Certainly not without the shroud of heavily-armed American soldiers about them. They don't know what it's like to go to someone's home and sit and talk with them. To shop in the markets. To have blackouts. To not have water. To have the cure for benzene. Secretary Rice is so far from that reality that she couldn't possibly hope to understand it."

Madonna makes a visit to the orphans of Malawi.

At the end of August I mentioned the death of a man who fell 60-feet from a window at the home of the great-grandson of 19th Century German chancellor Otto von Bismarck following an alleged sex party. A recent inquest in Britain has provided more details.

Cher's wardrobe, possessions snatched up at auction: "The top-selling costume was a Bob Mackie-designed rock 'n' roll outfit that was sold for $60,000, up to 20 times its estimate of $2,000 to $3,000. The single most expensive lot was for 60-year-old Cher's black 2005 Bentley, which fetched $204,000, while the "Gothic Revival" brass bed from her Malibu residence earned $84,000."

[spoiler warning] A gay on Lost? Of course it would have to be the creepy, child-abducting Other.

Study: Marijuana may stave off Alzheimer's. "New research shows that the active ingredient in marijuana may prevent the progression of the disease by preserving levels of an important neurotransmitter that allows the brain to function."

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Turing Bombe Recreated at Bletchley Park

The Turing Bombe, a codebreaking machine devised by Alan Turing and Gordon Welchman to decipher the Nazi Enigma Codes during World War II, has been meticulously reconstructed by a team of 60 people, and is going on display September 23rd and 24th at Bletchley Park in Central England (to be reopened next summer). The machines, using techniques that are still used in counterterrorism, were used to decode more than 3,000 enemy messages every day.

Workers using the device during the war were given information on a "need to know" basis, according to the BBC:

"About 10,000 people worked at Bletchley Park at the height of the war - mostly from the Women's Royal Naval Service. One former employee was 82-year-old Jean Valentine, who described how the original machines 'worked beautifully' and sounded like 'lots of knitting machines'." Said Valentine: "I knew what I was doing but I didn't know what anyone else was doing."

Alan Turing, who was honored with a statue in 2001 in Sackville Park in Manchester, England's gay village, died in 1954 after eating a cyanide-laced apple.

Turing had been convicted just two years earlier of "gross indecency" after it was discovered that he had been in a homosexual relationship. Due to that conviction, he had been ordered to undergo hormone therapy.

Whisper it quietly...the Enigma codebreakers are back! [24dash]

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News: Stem Cells, Xtina, German Fisting, Pluto

The California Assembly approved a bill that would allow domestic partners to joint file income tax returns, but not before a shouting match between the bigots and the gays: ," said Assemblyman Jay La Seur, R-La Mesa (San Diego County): "Here we go again. In the time I've been up here, there have been 40 bills in this house to further the homosexual, gay agenda." Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy, R-Monrovia: "It is not normal. It is abnormal. It is sexually deviant behavior." Democrats reportedly called a caucus to stop the arguing and let everyone simmer down.

Scientists have found a way to create stem cells without destroying the embryo. The new, controversial technique involves taking a single-cell biopsy from an embryo, which then grows into many cells, some of which can be turned into embryonic stem cells. In question is whether or not the biopsy compromises the embryo already in development. Last month, Bush shamefully vetoed a bill that would have expanded funding for stem cell research.

Planet gossip: astronomers to vote on fate of Pluto.

Blind item from the email newsletter popbitch: Which gay actor was seen enjoying himself in another country last weekend? The star was in the darkroom of hip Berlin fetish bar Mutschmann's, getting fisted according to an onlooker, "by a Spanish-looking guy in his mid-thirties".

150 people are expected to take part in Pride festivities in Galway, Ireland this weekend despite a homophobic email received by organizers: "It was basically trying to put us off having the parade. It was trying to stop people from coming out over the weekend but it won't work. The email isn't going to make us change any of our plans for the weekend and why should it?"

Leaders in the South Australian government say they will introduce a gay rights bill in the next session of parliament.

The male version of who wore it best?

The new casts of The Amazing Race and Survivor, whose tribes will be split according to race. Said Producer Mark Burnett: "I know it’s going to be controversial. I’m not an idiot...Maybe that taboo (of race) could disappear through this." Good luck.

Christina Aguilera is a gay marriage supporter: "I'm shocked that it's a big deal! I'm shocked that people are shocked. I think it's really unfair that there has to be some kind of standard for marriage. Marriage should be about celebrating two people's love for each other. It shouldn't have anything to do with someone's sexual preference. Europe is a lot more open when it comes to sexuality. I think that with the history of European culture, there is a lot more openness to being provocative. I'm just all about no judgement and (having) equal rights." Like, totally.

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Bush's Shameful Stem Cell Veto

So shameful that the Republicans figured out a way to push it through as quickly as possible. So shameful that Bush barred the media from covering it.

Here's how Bush explained his veto of a bill that has broad support from legislators and the public:

"Yet we must also remember that embryonic stem cells come from human embryos that are destroyed themselves. Each of these human embryos is a unique human life, with inherent dignity and matchless value. We see that value in the children who are with us today. Each of these children began his or her life as a frozen embryo that was created for in vitro fertilization, but remained unused after fertility treatments were complete. Each of these children was adopted while still an embryo, and has been blessed with the chance to grow up in a loving family. These boys and girls are not spare parts."

Why Bush's argument makes no sense...

Bush has chosen to be penny-wise, pound-foolish and rather than make a far-sighted choice that might save millions of lives down the road he has forsaken many (including some of his core supporters) in order to please his theocratic base. Let's hope folks remember in November.

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Pat Robertson Says God Told Him About Storms

What Pat learned at his prayer retreat:

"If I heard the Lord right about 2006, the coasts of America will be lashed by storms."

And in other news, the Pope is Catholic.

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BREAKING (literally!): King Tut's Penis

For the longest time, Scientists couldn't figure out where the Egyptian king's missing member had gone, speculating that it had been stolen and sold (on the lucrative shrunken penis market, no doubt).

Turns out the organ hadn't traveled very far.

Said Zahi Hawass: Instead, it has always been there. I found it during the CT scan last year, when the mummy was lifted. It lay loose in the sand around the king's body. It was mummified."

Ever hear the phrase use it or lose it? Well, I guess we now know what 3,300 years of not using it will do.

Previously
Wine: King Tut Preferred Red Over White [tr]

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Simon LeVay: Even Gay Opposites Attract

Neuroscientist Simon LeVay says that the relationship between Robin Williams and Nathan Lane's characters in The Birdcage is much more realistic than the relationship between Jack Twist and Ennis del Mar in Brokeback Mountain.

Why? Because, LeVay says, gay partners who are too distinctly similar in their behavior have nothing to gain from one another: "They have nothing to trade, as it were. In addition, it may be difficult for a person to see their partner as sufficiently 'other' or 'exotic' for romantic passion to exist."

According to the Sydney Star Observer, "LeVay believes this need for opposition explains some of the sub-sections of the gay and lesbian community, including butch/femme relationships in lesbians and gay men who date much older or younger partners or partners of a different race."

Equality in masculinity, LeVay says, does not fly:

"Some degree of difference between partners is probably necessary for the establishment and maintenance of loving sexual relationships. With a man and a woman, this essential difference is supplied automatically by the very fact that the union crosses the sex divide. Differences between that, in age, race and so forth, may tend to overload a couple’s capacity for mutual understanding, or may provoke social intolerance, which would explain why most stable heterosexual partnerships are between fairly similar people."

To me it just seems like an embellishment of the old 'opposites attract' adage, or an extremely simplistic reiteration of the theory that one man in a gay relationship plays the woman's part and one plays the man's. A very black and white look at top vs. bottom. I'd hope that relationships and the values one sees in a partner are far more complex than that.

In 1991, LeVay made headlines when he said he had found a genetic marker that differed between gay and straight men.

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The Lost World

When you think about how little of the world is still untouched, the recent discoveries in Papua New Guinea are huge. The nature freak in me was immediately drawn to this story.

Scientist: "It's beautiful, untouched, unpopulated forest; there's no evidence of human impact or presence up in these mountains. We were dropped in by helicopter. There's not a trail anywhere; it was really hard to get around. The men from the local villages came with us and they made it clear that no one they knew had been anywhere near this area - not even their ancestors."

How soon before the logging and drilling starts?

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Bye Bi Love?

A fascinating new study uses physical evidence to argue that bisexuality, especially in men, is a myth.

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