The Economist has an article with a new twist on efforts to understand the evolutionary implications of homosexuality. (I'm sure y'all don't need me to tell you that gay sex is not all that successful on the reproductive front.) A few years ago, there were some studies that demonstrated a link between male homosexuality and female fecundity. There was also a study that found that the more older brothers a man has, the more likely he is to be gay. As well as left-handedness being more likely among gay people. But this new study is saying this:

[Brendan Zietsch of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research in Brisbane, Australia, and his colleagues] think that genes which cause men to be more feminine in appearance, outlook and behaviour and those that make women more masculine in those attributes, confer reproductive advantages as long as they do not push the individual possessing them all the way to homosexuality.

There are also data which suggest that having a more feminine personality might indeed give a heterosexual male an advantage. Though women prefer traditionally macho men at the time in their menstrual cycles when they are most fertile, at other times they are more attracted to those with feminine traits such as tenderness, considerateness and kindness, as well as those with feminised faces.

. . . When the relationships between twins were included in the statistical analysis (all genes in common for identical twins; a 50%overlap for the non-identical) the team was able to show that both atypical gender identity and its influence on the number of people of the opposite sex an individual claimed to have seduced were under a significant amount of genetic control. More directly, the study showed that heterosexuals with a homosexual twin tend to have more sexual partners than heterosexuals with a heterosexual twin.

If a woman prefers a long-term relationship with a slightly feminized man and slightly masculinized women have more sex partners then what I am inferring from this little bit of information is that female mate choice is driving the existence of homosexuality. Wait, does that mean that our moms DID make us gay?!

Tom Toles, copyright 2008 Universal Press Syndicate

Social Populism vs Economic Populism

Christopher Buckley on The Daily Show

Democrats could dominate Congress after the election. "The Senate map, for the Republicans, is an ugly mix of tough circumstances, plain bad luck and troubled candidates."

Rising unemployment could signal higher foreclosures in 09

James Kotecki will make your ears bleed, but we have to listen to this so we know how NOT to be.

This week's Economist takes a look at how a poorer, hotter world will "bode ill for life’s infinite variety."

GREEN-MINDED folk of many shades came to Spain this month, to talk about the need to save from human recklessness as much as possible of nature’s bounty of genes, habitats and species. They brought bad tidings. Common birds are in decline across the world. Almost one in four species of mammals is in danger of extinction. If current trends continue until 2050, fisheries will be exhausted. As it is, deforestation costs the world more each year than the current financial crisis has cost in total, one economist argued.

While some of the language used might be hackneyed (I mean, who doesn't know that it's very In to be Green?), this article can serve, yes, as a reminder to Be Green, but, I think, as importantly, it can be used to leverage our understanding of how to implement an effective global response to a global crisis. Global financial institutions have demonstrated that they can work quickly and cooperatively to mitigate the effects of a major crisis. As this article points out, they might have to do it again, and they will have already had practice doing it.

Sarah Vowell talks to David Letterman about "Biden Fever" via The Daily Beast. I deeply love Sarah Vowell.


Where did the Repuplicans come from? And where are they going? Over at RealClearPolitics, Jay Cost writes about the Republicans, the Democrats, and how the Financial Crisis is changing each campaign's strategy

The Pull Out Method. On The View this morning, Joy said she doesn't understand how McCain can say to stay in Iraq but pull out of Michigan. I can't help but think that The View is the single best source of political information going these days.

Speaking of grammar, Maureen Dowd writes about Palin's. I know that Maureen and I are on the same team, but I really wish I liked her more.

The Palin Effect getting out of control. The Economist reports that she whipped up the crowd into such a frenzy that they started shouting racial epithets.