Sunday 15 May 2005

Good News !

From the Karolinska Institutet via ScienceBlog :
Moderate alcohol consumption over a relatively long period of time can enhance the formation of new nerve cells in the adult brain.
And while we're on the subject of Brains and the Karolinska Insititutet, here's another interesting article from them, this time via the New York Times :
Using a brain imaging technique, Swedish researchers have shown that homosexual and heterosexual men respond differently to two odors that may be involved in sexual arousal, and that the gay men respond in the same way as women.

The new research may open the way to studying human pheromones, as well as the biological basis of sexual preference. Pheromones, chemicals emitted by one individual to evoke some behavior in another of the same species, are known to govern sexual activity in animals, but experts differ as to what role, if any, they play in making humans sexually attractive to one another.
The question is though, is the brain set up as female leading to the person being attracted to men regardless of outside shape, or does psychological preference lead to changes in the brain? Or can either happen, and is it a feedback loop?

Having just had my system bombarded by all sorts of hormones from a berserk thyroid, I could believe either, er, both, er, all three. But then again, I figure I must be a lesbian anyway...

No comments: