What will ad-tech look like without cookies? | PandoDaily

cookie monster_featureWith all the hand-wringing over ?death to the click-through rate,? the poor performance of display ads, and challenges of transferring desktop dollars to mobile, I?d say the ad tech industry has its hands full.

But there?s one creeping problem getting less attention, and it?s one that most players in the space have little control over: Cookies. There?s a quiet war being waged over the use of them, and if things keep going the way they have, many adtech startups may find their products are suddenly useless.

To provide a little oversimplified context: Websites ?drop cookies? via your Web browser as a way to record that you?ve been there. It happens on just about any site you go to. Those cookies are then used by adtech companies to sell ads. A car advertiser might bid to serve me an ad on the New York Times website if a third party company tells them I?ve already been to their website, or any car-related one. J. Crew might bid to serve me an ad on Refinery29 after I?ve abandoned a loaded shopping cart on their site. It?s called retargeting. It?s how an ad seems to follow you around the Web no matter what site you?re on. These ads are far more effective than generic ads and advertisers are willing to pay a lot for them.

They obviously don?t work when a person disables third-party cookies on their browser. But your average, non-paranoid Internet user doesn?t do this. They likely don?t even know what a cookie is or how and why to disable them. (If you think I?m being condescending, see Google?s man-on-the-street video on what a browser.)

Users might even enjoy the cookie-fied ads because they?re more relevant. I, for one, have noticed an increase in the quality of Facebook ads since it introduced retargeting from outside the site on its banner ads earlier this year. Rather than getting ads from online colleges and suspicious dentists, I see ads from sites I?ve actually visited. I hate pretty much all ads, but at least these are slightly less annoying.

It?s not actually the users that are threatening the future of cookies. It?s the browsers themselves.

Earlier this year Microsoft announced that Internet Explorer 10 will have ?Disable cookies? in its default setting. The company reiterated that stance last week. The announcement was a shock to the ad world, and the Do Not Track working group Microsoft was a part of.

Depending on who you ask, Internet Explorer still dominates the browser wars, owning 36.7 percent of the market, according to Chitika Insights; over 50 percent according to Net Applications. Anyone upgrading to IE 10 will not be trackable by third party advertisers online as the default setting.

Meanwhile Apple?s web browser, Safari, has never allowed cookies. Safari has 21 percent market share, according to Chitika. If that sounds high, it?s because this study takes mobile web browsing into account, and Apple has a particularly high market share of web browsing thanks to the dominance of the tablet and stronghold with the iPhone.

Apple does not care to spread the cookie love to third parties.?Neither does Microsoft. It?s their way of thwarting their competitor, Google, which makes the bulk of its revenue in advertising and benefits greatly from the ability to collect targeting data.

It?s worth noting here that no war is without its nuances. Microsoft?s move might not be quite as bold as it appears to be. Having the ?Do Not Track? switch automatically set to ?on? in IE 10 does not technically stop websites from dropping a cookie. It only sends a message to the website that this user does not want to be tracked. The website can ignore it and drop a cookie anyways.?Plenty of publishers, including Yahoo, have said that?s precisely what they plan to do.

The UK began requiring consent-before-cookie (my term, not theirs) earlier this year, and it?s most recent steps to enforce it have only led to confusion. ?It is thought the majority of UK websites are breaking the law that dictates how users? are tracked and logged, despite having more than a year to prepare for the changes,? ZDNet?s Zach Whittaker wrote back in May.

So how is it legal for US sites to blatantly ignore Do Not Track requests? Because the hope of any legal enforcement related to it is basically dead. For two years, groups from adtech and privacy advocates have wrestled over the issue and they?ve made almost no progress. They can?t even agree on what the definition of the word ?track? should be, let alone deciding what the key harms they are trying to solve might be.

But those choosing to heed the Do Not Track requests, should it ever actually become a law, will want an alternative to cookie-based targeting. ?Many in the industry believe cookies are a less-invasive way to advertise than the alternatives to cookies. Yes, cookies track your browsing, but they are anonymous, and they are tied to a browser, not an individual. You can review yours and clear them at any time, and they are not permanent. It may be a savvy minority that actually takes the time to review and clear browsing cookies, but they at least have the ability to do so.

That?s in contrast to the alternative options large companies may start to use if cookies ever go away,?unique ID and PII (personally identifiable information). Third party ad-tech companies (ie, startups) won?t have access to this information the way they are able to get browsing data from cookies, but giant companies like Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook will. They have likely already gotten permission to collect it in the massive terms of service agreements we agree to. We have to consent to such terms when we boot up our new Macbooks, or when open iTunes, or when we turn on GPS for Google Maps, or when we sign up for Gmail, or when we agree to Facebook?s no-longer-democratic privacy policies, or when we put our credit card information into Amazon.

Microsoft and Safari may make life worse for Google with the war on cookies, but in doing so they also may make it worse on all of the rest of us.

erin

Erin Griffith

Erin Griffith covers New York startups for PandoDaily. She's worked as staff writer for?Adweek and?a private equity blogger for peHUB. Her writing has appeared in VCJ, Time Out New York,?Huffington Post, FT.com, and BUST. She plays keyboard in a band called Team Genius and Tweets as @Eringriffith.

Source: http://pandodaily.com/2012/12/15/what-will-ad-tech-look-like-without-cookies/

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EXCEL Tutorial | Computers & Technology

EXCEL TutorialDiscover an easy to use interactive software training course that will teach you how to discover the true strength of the Microsoft Excel.

This user friendly interactive course lets you study at your own pace as you cover the functions and tools of the Excel, giving you software training that will develop both your expertise and your confidence. Finally here is a way to become fluent in Microsoft Excel, a spreadsheet application that is a financial industry standard worldwide.

EXCEL COURSE Chapter 1 Covers Excel structure and ways to open and save the worksheet 1. Starting EXCEL 2. What is a spreadsheet? 3. Workbook Saving 4. Save as dialog box 5. Workbook opening 6. Open dialog box 7. New workbook opening 8. Workbook closing 9. Handling several workbooks 10. Password Chapter 2 Chapter covers data types, cells selecting, editing and marking 1. Data Types 2. Rows, Columns and cells Selecting 3. Entering data 4. Data Editing 5. Clearing Cells content 6. Cells deleting 7. Rows, Columns and cells inserting 8. Undo and Redo buttons 9. Copy Data 10. Paste Special Chapter 3 Covers ways to determine the look and design of the worksheet 1. Setting columns width 2. Setting row height 3. What is a font? 4. Underling Text 5. Bold Text 6. Italic Text 7. Text alignment 8. Worksheets navigation 9. Naming a worksheet 10. Add / delete a worksheet Chapter 4 Covers cells formations and working with worksheets 1. Moving or copying a worksheet 2. Format cells 3. Add border and color 4. Hide and Unhide 5. Freeze Panels 6. Cell rename 7. Worksheet direction Chapter 5 Covers the basic of formulas and functions 1. What is a formula? 2. Recognize a formula in a cell 3. Entering a formula 4. Relative address 5. Copy formula to cell region?


Read more?

Posted by Dan on Thursday, December 13, 2012 at 4:14 pm?
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Source: http://www.theyellowads.com/computers_technology/excel-tutorial/

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Official: Family has identified Rivera remains

MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) ? A state official says Jenni Rivera's family has identified the remains of the Mexican-American music star killed in plane crash.

Nuevo Leon state security spokesman Jorge Domene said DNA tests are still pending. The singer's remains will be given to the family once the tests are completed in coming days.

Officials said earlier that two state police officers had been arrested on suspicion of stealing unspecified items from the scene of the plane crash that killed Rivera.

The Nuevo Leon state government says authorities found images of the scene on the smartphone of one of the officers, who is 23, while trying to determine now the Mexican media got photographs of the secured site, including images of body parts and personal documents.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/official-family-identified-rivera-remains-222608143.html

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SAfrica president: Nelson Mandela 'recuperating'

BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa (AP) ? South African President Jacob Zuma says anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela is "recuperating" after falling ill from a recurring lung infection.

Zuma made the comments Thursday while renaming an airport in Bloemfontein.

Zuma said Mandela "is recuperating from a lung infection at a Pretoria hospital. We wish him a speedy recovery and assure him yet again, of the love and support of many in the country and abroad."

Mandela is 94 years old and was admitted Saturday to 1 Military Hospital near South Africa's capital, Pretoria.

Mandela is revered for being a leader of the struggle against racist white rule in South Africa and for preaching reconciliation once he emerged from prison in 1990 after 27 years. He served one five-year term as president before retiring from public life.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/safrica-president-nelson-mandela-recuperating-104622508.html

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Experimental agent briefly eases depression rapidly in test

Thursday, December 13, 2012

A drug that works through the same brain mechanism as the fast-acting antidepressant ketamine briefly improved treatment-resistant patients' depression symptoms in minutes, with minimal untoward side effects, in a clinical trial conducted by the National Institutes of Health. The experimental agent, called AZD6765, acts through the brain's glutamate chemical messenger system.

Existing antidepressants available through prescription, which work through the brain's serotonin system, take a few weeks to work, imperiling severely depressed patients, who can be at high risk for suicide. Ketamine also works in hours, but its usefulness is limited by its potential for dissociative side-effects, including hallucinations. It is being studied mostly for clues to how it works.

"Our findings serve as a proof of concept that we can tap into an important component of the glutamate pathway to develop a new generation of safe, rapid-acting practical treatments for depression," said Carlos Zarate, M.D., of the NIH's National Institute of Mental Health, which conducted the research.

Zarate, and colleagues, reported on their results online Dec. 1, 2012 in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

AZD6765, like ketamine, works by blocking glutamate binding to a protein on the surface of neurons, called the NMDA receptor. It is a less powerful blocker of the NMDA receptor, which may be a reason why it is better tolerated than ketamine.

About 32 percent of 22 treatment-resistant depressed patients infused with ASD6765 showed a clinically meaningful antidepressant response at 80 minutes after infusion that lasted for about half an hour ? with residual antidepressant effects lasting two days for some. By contrast, 52 percent of patients receiving ketamine show a comparable response, with effects still detectable at seven days. So a single infusion of ketamine produces more robust and sustained improvement, but most patients continue to experience some symptoms with both drugs.

However, depression rating scores were significantly better among patients who received AZD6765 than in those who received placebos. The researchers deemed this noteworthy, since, on average, these patients had failed to improve in seven past antidepressant trials, and nearly half failed to respond to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).

The patients reported only minor side effects, such as dizziness and nausea, which were not significantly different from those experienced with the placebo.

Zarate and colleagues say their results warrant further trials with AZD6765, testing whether repeated infusions a few times per week or higher doses might produce longer-lasting results.

###

A Randomized Trial of a Low-Trapping Nonselective N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Channel Blocker in Major Depression. Zarate CA Jr, Mathews D, Ibrahim L, Chaves JF, Marquardt C, Ukoh I, Jolkovsky L, Brutsche NE, Smith MA, Luckenbaugh DA. Biol Psychiatry. 2012 Nov 30. doi:pii: S0006-3223(12)00941-9. 10.1016/j.biopsych.2012.10.019. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 23206319

NIH/National Institute of Mental Health: http://www.nimh.nih.gov

Thanks to NIH/National Institute of Mental Health for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 46 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/125907/Experimental_agent_briefly_eases_depression_rapidly_in_test

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Leading conservative says Obama will win tax fight

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A leading conservative who's resigning from the Senate is predicting that President Barack Obama will win the battle over raising taxes.

South Carolina Republican Jim DeMint calls it "a political trophy" within Obama's grasp. Appearing Thursday on "CBS This Morning," DeMint says, quote, "The president's proposal is not a plan, it's not a solution."

Asked why Obama and congressional Republicans can't agree on a plan to avert a fiscal cliff in less than three weeks, DeMint says both political parties have "failed" the country.

On Obama, the senator says, "He's going to get his wish. I believe we're going to be raising taxes and not just on the top earners."

DeMint is stepping down from the Senate to become president of the Heritage Institution, a conservative think tank.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/leading-conservative-says-obama-win-tax-fight-122102345--politics.html

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Life Design: Relationships & Communication Maven Deb Dutilh! 12 ...

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    Live at 1pm ET. The ConVo will feature a discussion with SVP of Social Media for Citibank, Frank Eliason. Start your 2013 with social marketing tips from a pro. Join The ConVo.

  • As the new season of the hit show Impractical Jokers nears two stars of the show Murr & Joe join us to discuss what makes the show so successful and what we can look forward to with the new season!

  • Grammy Award-winning and multi-platinum hit songwriter/producer LaShawn Daniels and hairstylist wife April, who are both starring in WE's network's, "Tamar & Vince," drop by to talk with Olivia Wilder about their hit show.

  • Are you happy right now? Best Ever You happily welcomes Luann Robinson Hull, who is here to talk about her award winning book ?Happily Every After Right Now?Stop Searching Start Celebrating"

  • Sarah Winchester from Real Housewives of Orange County Hosts Sarah's Secrets on @Ezwaybroadcast. Celebrity Gossip, Fashion, Relationship Advice and more. Special guests include Shangela Laquifa & Steven Skyler from Glee. Plus Sarah's Scandal chat.Every Wed @ 3

  • The Power Is Now welcomes guest speaker Louis Amaya, Co-Founder/CEO of iServe Companies. The Power Is Now Online Radio is a weekly Radio Program about Real Estate for Real Estate Professionals.

  • Critics Rebecca Theodore-Vachon (The Urban Daily & Cinema in Noir) and Shawn Edwards (BFCA & FOX 4 Kansas City) will join host Tim Gordon to break down the best films and performances by Black filmmakers and actors for Black Reel Awards consideration.

  • You know him from the group Day 26 but Anthony Q is now a solo artist creating the music he wants. He talks with Conversations LIVE host Cyrus Webb about his music, his success and what's to come for his fans.

  • Life After Dusk Live welcomes Actor/Artist, Khleo Thomas who is known for his breakout role as "Zero" in Disney's "Holes" and signed to record label "Dream Big, Hustle Hard". Khleo will share how he has been able to be successful in both the acting and music w

  • Let's Do Lunch! visits Jacksonville, Florida to the Casa Marina hotel and their fabulous Penthouse Restaurant. Executive Chef Aaron Webb, celebrating 15 years, and Kyle McManus behind the bar join host Robin Milling for a delicious seafood and martini tasting.

  • From conversations with world figures to to inspiring the next generation of leaders, Tavis Smiley continues is an outstanding voice for change. TIME Magazine honored Smiley in 2009 as one of "The World's 100 Most Influential People."

  • Chris Lambton from HGTV's 'Going Yard' talks winter yard care tips and getting his house ready for holidays with his wife Peyton. Hosts Mark and Theresa share DIY know-how that will help you avoid winter troubles and get your home in top shape for the season.

  • Actor James Mapes has starred in films such as "Taxi Driver","Pelham 1,2,3" and his latest project is "The Wicker Tree", He is the founder of Quantum Leap Thinking, creator of The Transformation CoachTM,best selling author,highly acclaimed business speaker

  • Tonight on "He Said, She Said", Monica Crowley of FoxNews' "The Five" sits down with Demetrius & Stacy to discuss the current fiscal situation in Washington, and much more!

  • Just one week after discovering her Grammy nomination for Gospel Album of the year recording artist stops by Conversations LIVE to talk with host Cyrus Webb about the honor, the year and what's to come.

  • The Sy Effect Radio Show welcomes Peter Bailey, Journalist, Author and Host of NiteCap - as seen on NBC, Huffington Post and MTV to name a few; where he shares real conversations with some of the most talented and successful entertainers of today.

  • On-Air with Douglas visits with singer-songwriter, Jason Castro, who was the fourth place finalist on season seven of American Idol. He has a brand new album, "Only A Mountain" coming out in January. He will talk about his career from pre to post Idol. Fans call in!

  • Join us for an evening with John Trudell, Native American Warrior, writer, singer, poet and advocate for positive change in Indian Country: and a Celebration for Leonard Peltier and the upcoming concert on Friday December 14th at the Beacon Theatre in New York

  • Tune in to listen to Season 2, Episode 2 of Verses and Flow with Luke James, and spoken word by Omar Holmon, Tasha Jones and Javon Johnson Brought to you by Lexus

  • Source: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/authenticyouradio/2012/12/13/life-design-relationships-communication-maven-deb-dutilh

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    It's 12/12/12: That's bad ? and good

    A seemingly benign number that defines everything from a dozen eggs and the hours of day and night to the days of Christmas and the astrological signs, 12 may be in the spotlight today, 12/12/12.

    This date structure, in which the same two-digit number gets repeated three times, won't happen again until 2112, according to the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP).

    But does the triple dose of 12 hold any meaning? Depends on whom you ask, but in Hong Kong and Singapore, couples are crowding the aisles for a chance to tie the knot on a day they say symbolizes love, according to news outlets. Las Vegas is also abuzz with nuptials, according to CNN, which also reported an Indian numerologist saying today is a great day to start a new business venture. Making the rounds online, a boy who will turn 12 today at 12:12 p.m. in Bronxville, N.Y., suggests we're all a bit "number crazy."

    1. Science news from NBCNews.com

      1. Here's the real-life face of a 'Hobbit'

        Researchers have revealed what the face of a controversial ancient human nicknamed "the Hobbit" might have looked like.

      2. Serbian mountain draws 'Doomsday' crowd
      3. Brain cells made from human urine
      4. Hawking, CERN scientists win big physics prizes

    Doom isn't far behind the celebrations. While most believers in the Mayan apocalypse think the end of the world will come on Dec. 21, 2012, apparently some have interpreted the end of the Maya Long Count calendar differently, pinpointing Dec. 12, 2012, as a day of reckoning. (There is no evidence to suggest the Mayans predicted the end of their calendar to mean the end of the world.)

    Turning doomsday on its head, the ASP has coined today "Anti-Doomsday."

    "While many pundits and prognosticators lament the supposed end of the world on Dec. 21, 2012 (thanks to misinterpreting Mayan predictions), here at the ASP we encourage everyone to go in the opposite ? and accurate ? direction. Thus, we are declaring Dec. 12, 2012 as Anti-Doomsday Day in celebration of rational thinking and reasoned discourse," according to an ASP statement. [ End of the World? Top Doomsday Fears ]

    And if one were to tie any significance to today, and numerology in general, the ASP reminds us of plenty of auspicious associations with the number 12: the months in a year on contemporary calendars; 12 traditional zodiac signs; 12 Olympic gods and goddesses in Greek mythology; and 12 bottles of wine in a case. In Christian belief, Jesus had 12 apostles.

    Then there's Mars, which is 12 light-minutes from the sun, and Jupiter, which takes 12 years to orbit the sun, according to the ASP.

    The most recent triple-digit setup like today's occurred on Nov. 11, 2011 ( 11/11/11 ), another day some associated with Mayan doom. That day most likely became linked with Dec. 21, 2012, when believers noticed that the U.S. Naval Observatory had set the exact time of the 2012 winter solstice ? when Earth's tilt is angled at its farthest from the sun ? for 11:11 Universal Time on Dec. 21, John Hoopes, a scholar of Maya history at the University of Kansas, told LiveScience last year. (The Observatory now lists the official time for the winter solstice at 11:12 Universal Time.)

    While the meaning behind numbers, called numerology, has yet to be grounded in science, humanity seems hard-wired to find such numerical associations.

    "Cognitive scientists have demonstrated that our brains are hard-wired to look for meaningful patterns in the sensory data it collects from the world," said Alan Lenzi, professor of religious studies at University of the Pacific. "Numbers that are already significant to us, such as calendar dates, that also coincidentally fall into an obvious pattern become doubly significant," Lenzi told LiveScience in 2011, speaking about 1/11/11.

    Lenzi added, "Given the propensity for people to look for significance in particular days and times (e.g. the "end of the world"), patterns are easily imbued with imaginative meaning," Lenzi said.

    And patterns tend to stick in our heads ? you're more likely to remember a birthday that's on 11/11, 12/12, or 10/10, than one on 12/5, for instance. The same would be the case for various times of the day. "People are more likely to remember 11:11 than they are, say, 4:29 or 6:53 or 3:17 or something like that," Hoopes said.

    Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We're also on Facebook? and Google+.

    Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50175929/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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    Women slow to make gains in boardrooms

    8 hrs.

    NEW YORK--?Although women make up nearly half of the U.S. workforce, only 16.6 percent have seats on the boards of Fortune 500 companies and the number has barely budged since 2005, according to a study released on Tuesday.

    The Catalyst 2012 F500 Census, which annually tracks women in top positions in companies, showed progress is painfully slow for women seeking the top spots in corporate America, with only a 0.5 percent rise from the previous year.

    "What we found is that the needle barely budged for women aspiring into corporate board service or into top-level leadership at these very prominent American companies," said Rachel Soares, a senior research associate at Catalyst, a nonprofit group.

    "In 2012 women held only 16.6 percent of board seats and only 14.3 percent of executive officer positions."

    The number of women executives last year was slightly lower than in 2010 and only marginally better than in 2011. During the past two years more than a quarter of U.S. companies had no women executive officers, according to the research, and just one-fifth had 25 percent or more.

    Improvement at a snail's pace
    Women's advancement into boardrooms and executive offices has been slow since Catalyst, which works to expand opportunities for women and businesses, started with the F500 Census in 1993. In 2005 it slowed to a snail's pace, with half or less than half of a percentage point gain each year.

    "It is not meaningful. It is not significant," Soares said of the lack of progress in closing the gender leadership gap.

    For women of color, the situation is even worse, with 3.3 percent holding board seats in 2012, up 0.3 percent from 2011.

    "It just underscores the challenges that women face, particularly at the intersection of different dimensions of diversity, in this case gender and race/ethnicity," said Soares.

    In 2011 and 2012 two-thirds of companies did not have any women of color serving on their boards.

    Catalyst compiled the results by studying the top 500 U.S. companies ranked by revenues by Fortune magazine and counting everyone on boards and in top executive positions, noting their gender and race/ethnicity. Three companies were excluded because data was not available.

    Plenty of qualified women
    Although many barriers block women's entry to boardrooms and executive offices, Catalyst research showed that sponsorship is critical to advancing women, as is the commitment of current leadership.

    "Our data shows that between 2009 and 2011, 81 percent of (board) seats that were filled went to men. The pool that companies were drawing from is not taking advantage of the full range of women with their skills that are available," Deborah Gillis, chief operating officer of Catalyst, said in an interview.

    To pry open the door further and break through the relationship barrier, Catalyst is compiling a directory of board-qualified women based on recommendations from sponsors and companies.

    "What we are saying with this list is that the under-representation of women on corporate boards is not about a lack of supply. That's a myth," said Gillis.

    "In fact, if we look at the executive officer pool, we see 710 women executive officers in Fortune 500 companies. It is an extensive pool of women with skills and experience in critical areas that corporate boards could tap into."

    Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/women-slow-make-gains-boardrooms-1C7562530

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    Epigenetics may be a critical factor contributing to homosexuality, study suggests

    Dec. 11, 2012 ? Epigenetics -- how gene expression is regulated by temporary switches, called epi-marks -- appears to be a critical and overlooked factor contributing to the long-standing puzzle of why homosexuality occurs.

    According to the study, published online today in The Quarterly Review of Biology, sex-specific epi-marks, which normally do not pass between generations and are thus "erased," can lead to homosexuality when they escape erasure and are transmitted from father to daughter or mother to son.

    From an evolutionary standpoint, homosexuality is a trait that would not be expected to develop and persist in the face of Darwinian natural selection. Homosexuality is nevertheless common for men and women in most cultures. Previous studies have shown that homosexuality runs in families, leading most researchers to presume a genetic underpinning of sexual preference. However, no major gene for homosexuality has been found despite numerous studies searching for a genetic connection.

    In the current study, researchers from the Working Group on Intragenomic Conflict at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) integrated evolutionary theory with recent advances in the molecular regulation of gene expression and androgen-dependent sexual development to produce a biological and mathematical model that delineates the role of epigenetics in homosexuality.

    Epi-marks constitute an extra layer of information attached to our genes' backbones that regulates their expression. While genes hold the instructions, epi-marks direct how those instructions are carried out -- when, where and how much a gene is expressed during development. Epi-marks are usually produced anew each generation, but recent evidence demonstrates that they sometimes carry over between generations and thus can contribute to similarity among relatives, resembling the effect of shared genes.

    Sex-specific epi-marks produced in early fetal development protect each sex from the substantial natural variation in testosterone that occurs during later fetal development. Sex-specific epi-marks stop girl fetuses from being masculinized when they experience atypically high testosterone, and vice versa for boy fetuses. Different epi-marks protect different sex-specific traits from being masculinized or feminized -- some affect the genitals, others sexual identity, and yet others affect sexual partner preference. However, when these epi-marks are transmitted across generations from fathers to daughters or mothers to sons, they may cause reversed effects, such as the feminization of some traits in sons, such as sexual preference, and similarly a partial masculinization of daughters.

    The study solves the evolutionary riddle of homosexuality, finding that "sexually antagonistic" epi-marks, which normally protect parents from natural variation in sex hormone levels during fetal development, sometimes carryover across generations and cause homosexuality in opposite-sex offspring. The mathematical modeling demonstrates that genes coding for these epi-marks can easily spread in the population because they always increase the fitness of the parent but only rarely escape erasure and reduce fitness in offspring.

    "Transmission of sexually antagonistic epi-marks between generations is the most plausible evolutionary mechanism of the phenomenon of human homosexuality," said the study's co-author Sergey Gavrilets, NIMBioS' associate director for scientific activities and a professor at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.

    The paper's other authors are William Rice, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Urban Friberg, a professor at Uppsala University in Sweden.

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    Story Source:

    The above story is reprinted from materials provided by National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS).

    Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


    Journal Reference:

    1. William R. Rice, Urban Friberg, and Sergey Gavrilets. Homosexuality as a Consequence of Epigenetically Canalized Sexual Development. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 2012; 87 (4) [link]

    Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

    Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

    Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/genes/~3/xKLRDHovvmA/121211083212.htm

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