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This just in from BBC News:

Groundbreaking genetic research give hope to the moody, irritable, and dejected; prompts re-evaluation of evolutionary theory by international team of leading women scientists


You've got the look I want to know better

Genes could explain why women are more prone to stress-related anxiety and mood disorders.
US researchers have pinpointed a variation in a gene which controls regulation of a key brain chemical linked to mood.
Their work, on monkeys, suggests people with this variant may be more likely to react badly to negative experiences.

Am I to infer, then, that women are more closely related to monkeys than men? While this would certainly explain a good deal of my 'personal issues', I think most women will agree with me that it's the mens who are more likely (and more interested in) throwing their feces at gawkers, hangers-on, and hapless passersby. (No offence, mens, but you know it's true.)

Scientists shed new light on the annoying, vindicate the shy; 'highly sociable' people now considered abnormal


Ooh, my amygdala!

Scientists have uncovered clues about what happens in the brain to make some people "over-friendly." US National Institute of Mental Health experts looked at differences in the brains of people with an abnormality which makes them highly sociable.

Researchers used scans to identify areas which failed to work properly when they saw frightening faces.
This condition, once considered unusual, actually affects around four of every 25 people. The US team focused on the amygdala, an almond-shaped structure deep in the brain which has been thought to help regulate social behaviour. The adjacent cashew-shaped structure, however, remains a mystery - although some scientist have conjectured it is a vestigial third eye.

MRI scans were used to study the brains of 13 healthy volunteers and 13 volunteers identified as unhealthy through strictly determined criteria - such as a propensity for brightly-colored tracksuits, overzealous handshaking, and/or bringing muffin baskets to the orientation meeting.

All were shown pictures of angry or scary faces and, just for the hell of it, a "wild-card' face: Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears, Bono, or David Blaine.

In healthy brains, seeing such images would provoke an understandably disturbed response in the amygdala, characterized by intense quivering. Common verbal outbursts indicating such reponses have included: "Jesus H. Christ!" "Fuckin' A.!" or, in the especially healthy, "eeek! get it away from me please!" However, the MRI scans showed far less activity in those of people with faulty amygdalas, who frequently chided research assistants to "bring it on," or made suggestive remarks concerning David Blaine's "block of ice" feat.

Study participants were then shown pictures of threatening scenes, such as plane crashes or Michael Jackson with his pet llama, which did not have any people or faces in them. In the subjects deemed "sick puppies," the amygdala response was seen to be abnormally decreased, yet often prompted uncontrollable chuckling, sardonic rolling-of-eyes, or requests for more Budweiser.

I think no commentary is necessary; everyone knows where I stand on the issues of Jessica Simpson, plane crashes, and over-friendliness, and I know you agree with me, or you wouldn't be locked in your room reading this.