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03/20/2005: Female X-Per-Tease
Oh...I just LOVE Maureen Dowd's Sense of Humor. (And I've already said -- I'd give her my vote to Run The World.) Today she take a side-swiping lash at all you MEN out there in this X-celling Over Men for the male lack of a full-fledged, operational 46th chromosome:"Men are always telling me not to generalize about them.
But a startling new study shows that science is backing me up here.
Research published last week in the journal Nature reveals that women are genetically more complex than scientists ever imagined, while men remain the simple creatures they appear...
The researchers learned that a whopping 15 percent - 200 to 300 - of the genes on the second X chromosome in women, thought to be submissive and inert, lolling about on an evolutionary Victorian fainting couch, are active, giving women a significant increase in gene expression over men.
As the Times science reporter Nicholas Wade, who is writing a book about human evolution and genetics, explained it to me: "Women are mosaics, one could even say chimeras, in the sense that they are made up of two different kinds of cell. Whereas men are pure and uncomplicated, being made of just a single kind of cell throughout.
"This means men's generalizations about women are correct, too. Women are inscrutable, changeable, crafty, idiosyncratic, a different species...."
Ah...but anyone who's talked to ME long enough can already attest to the "TRUTH" of that. LOL""Women's chromosomes have more complexity, which men view as unpredictability," said David Page, a molecular biologist and expert on sex evolution at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Mass. Known as Mr. Y, Dr. P calls himself "the defender of the rotting Y chromosome." He's referring to studies showing that the Y chromosome has been shedding genes willy-nilly for millions of years and is now a fraction of the size of its partner, the X chromosome. "The Y married up," he notes. "The X married down.
"Size matters, so some experts have suggested that in 10 million years or even much sooner - 100,000 years - men could disappear, taking Maxim magazine, March Madness and cold pizza in the morning with them.
Dr. Page drolly conjures up a picture of the Y chromosome as "a slovenly beast," sitting in his favorite armchair, surrounded by the litter of old fast food takeout boxes..."
Hokay: Any of you GUYS wanting to Defend Yourselves here? This is YOUR chance -- Go Ahead: Let's hear it -- I love a good laugh!!
Karen on 03.20.05 @ 07:09 AM CST
