ErinVa
07-02-2005, 10:14 PM
Here's something to ponder, perhaps the way we are is the way we are supposed to be, from birth that is.
In doing a bit of research to help me accept the way I am, I found the following:
Genes are not destiny. Many people seem to think that we may be able to explain everything from cancer to homosexuality by locating the responsible genes. But in a series of scientific papers starting in 1980, Frederick vom Saal at University of Missouri demonstrated that there are other powerful forces shaping individuals--both females and males--before birth. Genes are not the whole story. Before birth, levels of both male and female sex hormones in the womb can affect the physical characteristics and the behavior of mice, giving rise to great variation in offspring that are genetically identical. By examining human twins, scientists have now revealed similar effects in humans.[2] Thus we now know that hormones are a way that nature provides variation within a species. Profound variation among individuals can be caused by miniscule hormone differences in the womb, differences of a few parts per trillion. (One part per trillion is a million times lower than one part per million.) This is a degree of sensitivity to hormones that approaches the unfathomable, a sensitivity, vom Saal says, "beyond people's wildest imagination." This exquisite sensitivity provides rich opportunities for creating varied offspring from the same genetic stock. However, the dark side is that this same sensitivity also makes the reproductive system vulnerable to serious disruption if something interferes with normal hormone levels.
Perhaps we are just what we are supposed to be. :)
In doing a bit of research to help me accept the way I am, I found the following:
Genes are not destiny. Many people seem to think that we may be able to explain everything from cancer to homosexuality by locating the responsible genes. But in a series of scientific papers starting in 1980, Frederick vom Saal at University of Missouri demonstrated that there are other powerful forces shaping individuals--both females and males--before birth. Genes are not the whole story. Before birth, levels of both male and female sex hormones in the womb can affect the physical characteristics and the behavior of mice, giving rise to great variation in offspring that are genetically identical. By examining human twins, scientists have now revealed similar effects in humans.[2] Thus we now know that hormones are a way that nature provides variation within a species. Profound variation among individuals can be caused by miniscule hormone differences in the womb, differences of a few parts per trillion. (One part per trillion is a million times lower than one part per million.) This is a degree of sensitivity to hormones that approaches the unfathomable, a sensitivity, vom Saal says, "beyond people's wildest imagination." This exquisite sensitivity provides rich opportunities for creating varied offspring from the same genetic stock. However, the dark side is that this same sensitivity also makes the reproductive system vulnerable to serious disruption if something interferes with normal hormone levels.
Perhaps we are just what we are supposed to be. :)