A recent article argued that sexuality is down to choice, not genetics. But the scientific evidence says otherwise, and points to a strong biological originIn a recent Guardian article , Simon Copland argued that it is very unlikely people are born gay (or presumably any other sexual orientation). Scientific evidence says otherwise. It points strongly to a biological origin for our sexualities. Finding evidence for a biological basis should not scare us or undermine gay, lesbian and bisexual (LGB) rights (the studies I refer to do not include transgendered individuals, so I’ll confine my comments to lesbian, gay and bisexual people). I would argue that understanding our fundamental biological nature should make us more vigorous in promoting LGB rights.Let’s get some facts and perspective on the issue. Evidence from independent research groups who studied twins shows that genetic factors explain about 25-30% of the differences between people in sexual orientation (heterosexual, gay, lesbian, and bisexual). Twin studies are a first look into the genetics of a trait and tell us that there are such things as “genes for sexual orientation” (I hate the phrase “gay gene”). Three gene finding studies showed that gay brothers share genetic markers on the X chromosome; the most recent study also found shared markers on chromosome 8. This latest research overcomes the problems of three prior studies which did not find the same results. Continue reading...

Around 60% of differences in GCSE results can be explained by genetic factors, with the same genes responsible for maths, science and the humanitiesYou may feel you are just not a maths person, or that you have a special gift for languages, but scientists have shown that the genes influencing numerical skills are the same ones that determine abilities in reading, arts and humanities.The study suggests that if you have an academic Achilles heel, environmental factors such as a teaching are more likely to be to blame. Continue reading...

There’s no treatment that actually tackles the underlying causes of this terrible disease. Solanezumab, a genetically engineered antibody, may be the firstEvery week in my neurology clinic at the Walton Neuro-Centre in Liverpool, I see people who are worried that they may have Alzheimer’s disease. Perhaps this is not surprising, given there is a news story about the disease almost daily, an estimated 850,000 people in the UK have dementia, and the government has described it as “one of the greatest challenges of our lifetime”. This is why news of solanezumab, a drug that appears to slow decline in Alzheimer’s patients, has provoked such interest.Currently, the treatments we can offer patients with Alzheimer’s disease are very limited Continue reading...

The search for extraterrestrial life is seen as one of pure curiosity. But, as in other areas of science, we should worry about the consequences of success.

Australian scientists have used the example of the Cook Islands to look at how communities can prepare for violent storm surges. Across the South Pacific, tropical storms bring tidal surges that can devastate low-lying coastal communities. But complex modelling by researchers at the University of New South Wales is helping shed light on just how these wave systems work

Carlos Arturo Torres has designed a modular system that lets kids programme their own prosthetics – and this is only the start of toy-based body partsChildren could soon see their favourite toy grafted on to the end of their arm, thanks to designs for Lego prosthetics that allow everything from mechanical diggers to laser-firing spaceships to be screwed on to the end of a child’s limb.Iko is the work of the Chicago-based Colombian designer, Carlos Arturo Torres, and is a modular system that allows children to customise their own prosthetics with the ease of clicking together plastic bricks. The only limit is their imagination – and what they can find at the bottom of the Lego box. Continue reading...

A visit to the Googleplex offers a reminder of the need for public debate about the ethical, social and environmental implications of new technologies.At the headquarters of Google in Mountain View, California, multi-coloured bikes are scattered around the campus; there’s a Holodeck (a dizzying immersive version of Google Earth); and two of the meeting rooms are called Flux and Capacitor. So far, so Google.Yet the company, which earns most of its revenues through advertising, has a strange urge to communicate its materiality. The campus features a visitor centre, still ‘in beta’, which has the difficult task of assembling objects to depict the history of a corporation that deals in bits rather than atoms. These include a graph tracking Google searches over time, a nap pod and a reconstruction of a Google office, which looks like… an office. Weirder still is the sculpture garden, a patch of grass occupied by several large Android statues, one for each version of the operating system. Continue reading...

Manufacturing and wastewater treatment sites are releasing bisphenol A into the air, exposing people to high levels of the chemical, according to a studyResearchers have long known people can be exposed to bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical commonly found in plastic packaging from receipts to the lining of food cans and believed to disrupt human hormones. But a new study has found people also can be exposed to the chemical just by breathing.Published in May 2015 by researchers at the University of Missouri, the study found high concentrations of BPA in both air and water near industrial sites, indicating that people may be exposed to much larger quantities of the chemical than previously thought. Continue reading...