Gay fly

In the new work, University of Illinois at Chicago researcher David Featherstone and coworkers discovered a gene in fruit flies they call "genderblind," or GB. A mutation in GB turns flies. Now, a German research team has discovered that air pollution is turning male fruit flies gay (yes, really).

First, a quick queer insect primer. Fruit flies rely heavily on the odor of chemical attractants called pheromones to find and mate with other members of their species. Without a wink or a chuckle, Odenwald claims that these male fruit flies are gay — and that he and Zhang made them that way. The scientists say they transplanted a single gene into the flies that.

Neurobiologists have discovered that homosexuality in fruit flies is controlled by a novel regulator of synapse strength. By harnessing this discovery, the researchers are able to use either. Researchers have finally pinned down a physical difference between male flies that are engineered to behave homosexually and those that are not: the tweaked variety is missing a small cluster of.

Hello, my name is Emma Lind, and I have gay friends.

Neurobiologists have discovered that homosexuality

Fag hag, fruit fly, queer dear. The terminology may vary by woman and by context, but the meaning is the same. I am a straight woman who happens to hang around men who like other men. And more and more commonly, women who have friendships with openly gay men are being categorized by their sexuality—not their own sexuality, but the sexuality of their platonic companions. Being called a fag hag—even when it is primarily by my gay friends—seems to imply that when searching for the next victim of my friendship, I sniff out gays.

Women with gay friends often get lumped together as some strange breed, but the phenomenon is actually quite simple. At least in my case, the perks of having a lot of gay friends are really no different than the perks of having friends, period. Instead, we sit on a crappy futons and discuss the Core, Drew Faust, and sex. My gay friends have never done my hair.

Nor would I want most of them to. But the label is unsettling beyond this image because it assumes that I specifically seek out gay male companions. And it is another way in which we judge people not as individuals, but by one aspect—the sexuality of the company they keep—that could be wholly irrelevant to the actual friendship. My gay friends are just that: friends who also happen to be gay, and not the objects of some sort of platonic gay fetish.

Emma M. Want to keep up with breaking news? Subscribe to our email newsletter. By Emma M.