title: Emma Willis

text: Emma Willis was born in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, attending Wylde Green Primary School and then John Willmott School in Sutton Coldfield. She began modelling at the age of 15, and during her career worked for a range of magazines, retailers and companies including "Marie Claire", "Elle", "Vogue", GAP and Chanel.


title: Emma Willis

text: Willis got her first big break presenting on MTV in 2002 before presenting various other shows, including guest-hosting shows such as "", "This Morning" and "Loose Women".


title: Emma Willis

text: In 2007, Willis presented ITV2 spin-off series "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! NOW!" with her husband Matt before departing in 2008. She presented numerous episodes of "The Hot Desk" on ITV2 between 2008 and 2014. In September 2012, Willis became a permanent presenter on "This Morning", presenting segments in "The Hub", taking over from Coleen Nolan. The feature was axed in 2014. She was also a stand-in presenter on the main show when Holly Willoughby or Ruth Langsford were absent and returned to guest present the show with Rylan Clark-Neal in 2018. Willis hosted two series of the ITV2 reality show "Girlfriends" in 2012 and 2013.


title: Emma Willis

text: On 16 November 2012, Willis was drafted in to guest anchor "Loose Women" and has since presented on several occasions as a stand-in presenter. In 2013, Willis guest presented an episode of "The Paul O'Grady Show", while O'Grady was away.


title: Emma Willis

text: In 2013, Willis co-presented the ITV game show "Prize Island" with Alexander Armstrong. In 2015, Willis was a team captain on the six-part ITV2 comedy panel show "Reality Bites", hosted by Stephen Mulhern. On 2 July 2015, it was announced that Willis would present a new three-part series for ITV called "What Would Be Your Miracle", about modern miracles. The series began on 28 April 2016. In January 2017, "The Voice UK" moved from BBC One to ITV. It was confirmed on 9 June 2016 that Willis would present the series after co-hosting three previous series on the BBC. She also presented two series of "The Voice Kids" on ITV since 2017. In 2017, she presented "The BRITs Are Coming" live on ITV. She co-presented the "2017 BRIT Awards" in February alongside Dermot O'Leary. She hosted "The BRITs Are Coming" for a second year in 2018. She presented "Your Song" in 2017, a one-off special for ITV.


title: Emma Willis

text: On 3 March 2018, Willis made a surprise appearance on "Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway", as she presented Win the Ads while the main hosts playing the game as part of the show's 100th episode.


title: Emma Willis

text: In 2007, Willis guest hosted the tenth week of "Big Brother's Big Mouth". In 2010, Willis began presenting a "Celebrity Big Brother" online spin-off show entitled "Celebrity Big Brother's Big i". While presenting the online spin-off in the same series, Willis also presented another edition of "Big Mouth" when Davina McCall entered the "Big Brother" house as part of a task. She was then later announced as the new co-presenter on the final series of "Big Brother's Little Brother", hosting opposite George Lamb.


title: Emma Willis

text: In 2010, it was announced that Willis would replace Melinda Messenger on the Channel 5 series "Live from Studio Five", but after only two months, Willis announced she would be departing in order to co-present "Big Brother's Little Brother" and was therefore replaced by Jayne Middlemiss.


title: Emma Willis

text: In 2011, it was confirmed that she would be returning to the revived series, presenting the spin-off show "Big Brother's Bit on the Side".


title: Emma Willis

text: On 13 March 2013, it was reported that Brian Dowling would be axed from "Big Brother" and be replaced by Willis with a source saying, 'Brian has been a great host but Emma is seen by channel chiefs as a true successor to Davina. They're talking to her now about taking over the role from the summer.' It was later confirmed, on 2 April 2013 by Channel 5 that Willis would be replacing Dowling as the new host of "Big Brother". On 13 June 2013, she began presenting the fourteenth series of "Big Brother".


title: Emma Willis

text: Even though Willis presents the main "Big Brother" and celebrity series, she still continued to host the spin-off show "Bit on the Side", sharing the presenting duties with Rylan Clark. On 2 February 2015, it was announced that Willis was to present her final edition of "Bit on the Side" that night, and Clark would take over as the main presenter of the spin off show.


title: Emma Willis

text: Willis infamously interrogated Winston McKenzie during his exit interview on "Celebrity Big Brother" over his controversial opinions. Willis has expressed personal pride on this moment in her career.


title: Emma Willis

text: On 30 March 2014, Willis presented the "Mum of the Year Awards", with the highlights being shown on Channel 5 that same evening.


title: Emma Willis

text: In 2013, Willis was confirmed as the replacement for Holly Willoughby on the BBC One talent show "The Voice UK". On 11 January 2014, she began co-presenting the third series with JLS singer Marvin Humes, who replaced Reggie Yates.


title: Emma Willis

text: In March 2014, it was announced that "The Voice UK" had been renewed for two future series. Both Willis and Humes returned to the show for the fourth series in 2015 and fifth series in 2016. The show was axed by the BBC after series 5 and moved to ITV in 2017.


title: Emma Willis

text: Willis, and Reggie Yates co-hosted the Saturday night game show "Prized Apart" on BBC One. The series began on 13 June 2015 and was axed after the first series, due to poor ratings.


title: Emma Willis

text: On 5 August 2012, Willis began co-presenting "Sunday Morning Breakfast" with Stephen Mulhern across the Heart network.


title: Emma Willis

text: In September 2013, Willis received a longlist nomination for Most Popular Entertainment Presenter at the National Television Awards in 2014. It was her second successive longlist nomination for the award.


title: Emma Willis

text: On 5 July 2008, Emma Griffiths married Busted member Matt Willis at Rushton Hall, Northamptonshire, after three years of dating. The wedding was featured in "OK" magazine. She gave birth to their first child, Isabelle, in June 2009. In November 2011, the couple had a second child, Ace, and in May 2016, Willis gave birth to her third child, Trixie.


title: Emma Willis

text: In an episode of "Who Do You Think You Are?", Willis confirmed that she has longstanding roots in Birmingham, with her family tree being traced back to her great-great-great-grandfather, who was named James Gretton and was listed as a Horn and Hair Merchant in the census records. She also found she had Irish ancestors, a fact that came as a surprise to her. The revelations about her ancestry left her extremely uncomfortable with the actions of one, who she discovered was a violent Orangeman, but overall she was happy to have found a connection to her more broad Irish heritage.


title: Emma Willis

text: In 2019, Willis obtained a qualification as a maternity care assistant following her experience on the W series "Delivering Babies".


title: Emma Willis

text: During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, Willis and her husband completed training with St John Ambulance to act as vaccination volunteers.


title: Dane Witherspoon

text: Dane Witherspoon (December 27, 1957 – March 29, 2014) was an American actor who appeared in daytime TV soap operas "Santa Barbara" as Joe Perkins in 1984, and in "Capitol" as Tyler McCandless from 1985 to 1986.


title: Dane Witherspoon

text: At age 19, he was the youngest student ever accepted by the American Conservatory Theater (ACT) in San Francisco, California, appearing in productions from Shakespeare to Tennessee Williams. He performed one season at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. After getting his acting degree from ACT, Witherspoon went to Hollywood where he landed small roles in "The Waltons" and "Eight Is Enough".


title: Dane Witherspoon

text: In 1984, he made his soap opera debut as the original Joe Perkins on "Santa Barbara". Three months later, Dane was replaced by Mark Arnold. Dane soon returned to daytime as Tyler McCandless on "Capitol"; he played this part from 1985 to 1986. His film credits include "Chameleons" in 1989, the part of Brad Yates in the movie Seedpeople in 1992, and in 1997 he played a part in the TV movie "Asteroid".


title: Dane Witherspoon

text: He met actress Robin Wright when they auditioned for "Santa Barbara". The two were married from 1986 to 1988. Witherspoon had two sons with his second ex-wife, actress / playwright Tracy Shaffer.


title: Dane Witherspoon

text: Although he continued to work as an actor for a few more years, Witherspoon eventually retired from the profession and lived in Denver, Colorado, where he died at age 56.


title: Nick Jr.

text: Nick Jr. (known on-air as the Nick Jr. Channel) is an American pay television channel spun off from Nickelodeon's long-running programming block of the same name. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. The channel launched on September 28, 2009, and primarily targets preschoolers. Its lineup features a mix of originally-produced programming, along with series from the Nickelodeon weekday block; because of the two entities, Nick Jr. is known on-air as "the Nick Jr. Channel" (as of March 2018) to avoid confusion, especially at times of day where both services are carrying preschool programming.


title: Nick Jr.

text: The channel replaced Noggin, which was relaunched as a streaming service in 2015 and acts as a separate sister brand. Noggin's programming is distinct from the Nick Jr. channel's: it mainly carried pre-teen-oriented programs at its launch, and its 2015 streaming service features a variety of exclusive series. From May 2021 to March 2022, the Nick Jr. channel aired an hour-long block of programming from the Noggin app every Friday. The block, titled "Noggin Presents," featured shows such as "Noggin Knows" and "Kinderwood".


title: Nick Jr.

text: The Nick Jr. channel and the Nick Jr. block are both currently running. The latter airs weekdays on Nickelodeon from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET (those hours vary during the summer months, other school break periods and on major national holidays), having traditional commercial breaks for certain programs. As of September 2018, Nick Jr. is available to approximately 70.310 million pay television households in the United States.


title: Nick Jr.

text: Since its inception in 1977, Nickelodeon's channel space had aired preschool-oriented programs, including "Pinwheel", which was their first original series. These were usually played on weekday mornings when older children were in school and younger children were not. This block ran from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm. On January 4, 1988, Nickelodeon debuted a name for its preschool block: "Nick Junior". Between September 1988 and mid-1989, the name was shortened to "Nick Jr." on-air.


title: Nick Jr.

text: At launch, the block mostly showed imported series purchased from other companies. "Eureeka's Castle" was the first original series that Nickelodeon made for the block. Brown Johnson, the former vice president of Nick Jr., stated in a 2000 interview that after "Eureeka" ended production, Nick Jr. became "a neglected daypart" compared to the main Nickelodeon. "Without the investment of energy or money, the block floundered until 1994 when the network poured $30 million into a full-scale relaunch," said Johnson.


title: Nick Jr.

text: On September 5, 1994, the Nick Jr. block began its relaunch and introduced Face, its first host and no longer ran commercial breaks as intermissions during shows. "Gullah Gullah Island" and "Allegra's Window", the second and third original series made for Nick Jr., premiered. They resulted in 50% rating gains for the block. From then onward, Nickelodeon continued to create its own productions for Nick Jr. and foreign-made imports were phased out. "Blue's Clues" and "Dora the Explorer" became ratings draws for both the block and Nickelodeon as a whole.


title: Nick Jr.

text: Before gaining its own spin-off network, the Nick Jr. block extended to several other networks: Nick Jr. on CBS from 2000 to 2006, and Nick Jr. on Noggin from 2003 to 2009. The Nick Jr. on CBS block ended on September 9, 2006, when CBS replaced its Nick Jr. programming with "KOL Secret Slumber Party". Nick Jr. series continued to appear on Noggin until its closure in 2009, when the Nick Jr. channel replaced it.


title: Nick Jr.

text: On February 23, 2009, Nickelodeon announced that Noggin would be replaced by a channel named after the Nick Jr. block. The intention was to bring the channel in line with the Nickelodeon brand identity. In July of that year, Nickelodeon unveiled new standardized logos for its five channels, intending to create a unified look that could better be conveyed across the services.


title: Nick Jr.

text: When the Nick Jr. channel debuted on September 28, 2009, at 6:00 a.m. ET, a new logo was debuted and designed by New York-based creative director/designer Eric Zim. Although the use of an orange "adult" and blue "child" figure was discontinued in the new wordmark logo, the tradition of the "Nick" text being orange (representing the adult) and the "Jr." text remaining in blue (as the child) was retained. Until 2012, the Nick Jr. channel retained Noggin's on-air branding style and played several of its programs, most notably the mascots Moose and Zee. It also continued not to accept traditional advertising or marginalize closing credits for promotion of other shows on the channel.


title: Nick Jr.

text: On March 1, 2012, the Nick Jr. channel received a new rebrand produced by Gretel Inc. Jessica DiCicco became the network's announcer, and the Moose and Zee mascots were completely dropped after nine years, removing one of the last vestiges of Noggin; as a result, some of the interstitial learning activities that originally featured Moose's narration (like the "Puzzle Time" segments) were recycled and replaced by her narration. The channel's slogan changed from "It's Like Preschool On TV" to "The Smart Place To Play" (which was also used as the branding for the Nick Jr. block), while several shows — "The Upside Down Show", "Oswald", "Jack's Big Music Show", "Franklin", "Toot & Puddle" and "Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends" — were pulled from the lineup; most of them would return later that year, while the former could still be seen on the channel's website at the time.


title: Nick Jr.

text: At this point, programming began to be hosted by characters from Nick Jr. shows. The Nick Jr. channel also began incorporating programming promotions and short features on that date; seven months later, on October 1, 2012, it started airing limited traditional advertising (for companies such as ABCMouse, Kmart, Chuck E. Cheese's, Nabi, Clorox, Walmart, Lysol and Playskool) in the form of underwriter sponsorships airing in-between shows, whereas its parent network airs longer traditional advertising.


title: Nick Jr.

text: On May 21, 2018, the channel refreshed their imaging with new interstitial pieces and updated curriculum notices, and began to promote themselves as the "Nick Jr. Channel" audibly and visually to avoid confusion with the Nickelodeon block.


title: Nick Jr.

text: From October 1, 2012, to September 28, 2015, a four-hour block of parent-targeted shows called NickMom aired from 10:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. ET. The NickMom name started out with a humor website in 2011 and the four-hour time slot aired comedies like "Instant Mom" and "NickMom Night Out".


title: Nick Jr.

text: On September 9, 2015, the social media channels of NickMom announced that the four-hour weeknight block on the Nick Jr. channel, along with the NickMom website, would end operations by the end of September 28, 2015, due to Viacom's 2015 cutbacks involving acquired programming and also due to NickMom's low ratings with the time vacated by NickMom returned to traditional Nick Jr. programming like "Dora the Explorer", "Blue's Clues", "Team Umizoomi", and "Bubble Guppies". In the early morning of September 28, 2015, NickMom ended its 3-year run at 2:00 a.m. ET, with an airing of the film "Guarding Tess". No sign off message was shown; after the film "Guarding Tess", it faded straight into an episode of "Yo Gabba Gabba!" at its end. NickMom's former website address is now used as a redirect to Nickelodeon's site for parental resources.


title: Nick Jr.

text: Following NickMom's closure, the Nick Jr. channel increased the amount of traditional advertising it aired, but also began scheduling programs in an inversion of the "off-the-clock" format where the network shortened some of its commercial breaks, allowing the network to air more programming. The "off-the-clock" format was previously adopted by various Viacom networks, such as TV Land, Nick at Nite and Comedy Central (though in a reversed form, the scheduling format for those channels was designed to "add" extra advertising loads).


title: Nick Jr.

text: On May 28, 2021, the Nick Jr. channel introduced an hour-long block of programming from the Noggin app every Friday. The block was titled "Noggin Presents." Series featured in the timeslot included the Noggin originals "Kinderwood" and "Noggin Knows", as well as the acquired shows "Hey Duggee" and "JoJo & Gran Gran". Noggin interstitials played during commercial breaks, and a purple screen bug reading "On Noggin" was shown toward the beginning of each show.


title: Nick Jr.

text: The Nick Jr. channel schedule mainly features reruns from Nickelodeon's library of preschool programming, along with a few original series exclusive to the channel. As of 2022, the channel's lineup includes "The Adventures of Paddington", "Baby Shark's Big Show!", "Blaze and the Monster Machines", "Blue's Clues & You!", "Bubble Guppies", "Face's Music Party", "Hey Duggee", "Kiri & Lou", "PAW Patrol", "Peppa Pig", "Ryan's Mystery Playdate", "Santiago of the Seas", and "Team Umizoomi".


title: Nick Jr.

text: On May 16, 2011, MTV Networks launched two new channels, Nick Jr. and MTVNHD, in Asia. These 24-hour channels began to be available on StarHub TV in Singapore on May 18, 2011, and on Telekom Malaysia Berhad's Unifi TV in Malaysia on June 1, 2011. The channel launched aggressively to the rest of Southeast Asia later.


title: Nick Jr.

text: An African version of Nick Jr. was launched on September 30, 2014, along with Nicktoons. In Poland, Nick Jr. is available on Platforma Canal+ since March 2013. In Romania, Nick Jr. is available on UPC Romania since October 24, 2014. In Canada, Nick Jr. was launched as a programming block on the local version of Nickelodeon.


title: Nick Jr.

text: Versions of Nick Jr. also exist in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Germany, The Netherlands & Flanders, India, France, Italy, Latin America, and Australia. On November 3, 2017, Nick Jr. launched in Portugal.


title: Nick Jr.

text: Nick Jr. is also available in Japan in the form of a programming block on the Japanese version of Nickelodeon.


title: Ferrari 360

text: The Ferrari 360 (Type F131) is a two-seater, mid-engine, rear wheel drive sports car manufactured by Italian automotive manufacturer Ferrari from 1999 to 2005. It succeeded the Ferrari F355 and was replaced by the Ferrari F430 in 2004.


title: Ferrari 360

text: Ferrari partnered with Alcoa to produce an entirely new all-aluminium space-frame chassis that was 40% stiffer than its predecessor's which had utilized steel. The design was 28% lighter despite a 10% increase in overall dimensions. Along with a lightweight frame the new Pininfarina body styling deviated from traditions of the previous decade's sharp angles and flip-up headlights. The new V8 engine utilises a 3.6-litre capacity, a flat-plane crankshaft, and titanium connecting rods. The engine generates a power output of . According to Ferrari, weight was reduced by and the 0 to acceleration time improved from 4.7 to 4.5 seconds.


title: Ferrari 360

text: The first model to be produced was the 360 Modena, followed later by the 360 Spider and a special edition, the Challenge Stradale. The Challenge Stradale was the high-performance road-legal version of the 360 produced by the factory, featuring carbon ceramic brakes (from the Enzo), track-tuned suspension, aerodynamic gains, weight reduction, power improvements and revised gearbox software among its track-focused brief. There were 8,800 Modenas and 7,565 Spiders produced worldwide. There were 4,199 built for the US market—1,810 Modenas (coupes) and 2,389 Spiders (convertibles). Of those numbers, there were only 469 Modenas and 670 Spiders that were produced with a gated 6-speed manual transmission as opposed to the "F1" single-clutch automated manual transmission.


title: Ferrari 360

text: In addition to this were the low-volume factory race cars and a one-off Barchetta variant. The race cars were all derived from the 360 Modena and for the first time produced as a separate model in their own right (compared to being a retrofit kit in previous years). While the Barchetta was based on the Spider variant. The first race car was the 360 Modena Challenge, used in a one-make series; the factory-built racing cars were prepared by the official tuner, Michelotto, who also developed the 360 N-GT. The N-GT was a 360 Challenge car evolved even further to compete in the FIA N-GT racing class alongside other marques such as Porsche.


title: Ferrari 360

text: The first model of the 360 to be produced was the Modena, named after the town of Modena, the birthplace of Enzo Ferrari. Transmission choice ranges from 6-speed manual transmission, or the electrohydraulic-actuated "F1" automated manual transmission with a gearbox built by Graziano Trasmissioni.


title: Ferrari 360

text: The 360 Modena went into production in 1999 and remained in production until 2005 when it was replaced by the F430. The Modena was followed two years later by the 360 Spider, Ferrari's 20th road-going convertible which at launch overtook sales of the Modena. Other than weight, the Spider's specifications matched those of the Modena almost exactly.


title: Ferrari 360

text: The 360 was designed with a convertible variant in mind; since removing the roof of a coupe reduces the torsional rigidity, the 360 was built for strength in other areas. Ferrari designers strengthened the sills, stiffened the front of the floorpan and redesigned the windscreen frame. The rear bulkhead had to be stiffened to cut out engine noise from the cabin. The convertible's necessary dynamic rigidity is provided by additional side reinforcements and a cross brace in front of the engine. Passenger safety is ensured by a strengthened windscreen frame and roll bars.


title: Ferrari 360

text: The 360 Spider displays a curvilinear waistline. The fairings imply the start of a roof, and stable roll bars are embedded in these elevations. Due to use of light aluminium construction throughout, the Spider weighs in only heavier than the coupé.


title: Ferrari 360

text: As with the Modena version, its V8 generating a power output of is on display under a glass engine cover. The engine — confined in space by the convertible's top's storage area — acquires additional air supply through especially large side air intakes. The intake manifolds were moved towards the centre of the engine between the air supply conduits in the Spider's engine compartment, as opposed to lying apart as with the Modena. In terms of performance, the 0- acceleration time was slightly slower due to the slight weight increase, and the top speed was reduced.


title: Ferrari 360

text: Despite the car's mid-mounted V8 engine, the electrically operated top is able to stow into the compartment when not in use. The convertible top was available in black, blue, grey and beige colours.


title: Ferrari 360

text: The Ferrari 360 Barchetta (serial number 120020) is a one-off based on the Ferrari 360 Spider which was commissioned by Gianni Agnelli in 2000 as a wedding present for the then Fiat chairman and president of Ferrari, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo. The car bears heavy resemblance to its donor with the only differences being the removal of the soft top system and roll bars, different engine cover and the addition of a visor in place of a windshield for better airflow over the car. Performance of the car remains the same as its donor and the car features Argento Nurburgring exterior paint with red pinstriping. The interior is black leather with cream fabric and features fabric seats with matching stitching, the words 360 Barchetta embroidered on the dashboard and a paddle-shift gearbox.


title: Ferrari 360

text: Inspired by the 360 Modena Challenge racing car series, the Challenge Stradale is the track-focused iteration of the 360 Modena. The focus in development of the car was primarily on improving its track performance credentials by concentrating on handling, braking and weight reduction characteristics, which are essential in pure racing cars. Ferrari engineers designed the car from the outset with a goal of 20% track day use in mind and 80% road use. With only a small improvement in engine power from the Modena (and boasting an improved power-to-weight ratio), the Challenge Stradale accelerates from 0 to in 4.1 seconds according to Ferrari. Systematic improvements were achieved to the setup and feel of the whole car; throttle response from the digital throttle was ratcheted up and feedback through the steering wheel was enhanced. Ceramic brakes borrowed from the Enzo, some lower weight parts and a FHP handling pack, enabled the Challenge Stradale to claim a 3.5 second improvement per lap of its Fiorano Circuit compared to the Modena.


title: Ferrari 360

text: In total, the Challenge Stradale is up to lighter than the standard Modena if all the lightweight options are specified such as deleted radio, lexan (plexiglass) door windows and Alcantara fabric (instead of the leather option). As much as was saved by lightening the bumpers, stripping the interior of its sound deadening and carbon mirrors and making the optional Modena carbon seats standard. Resin Transfer Moulding was utilised for the bumpers and skirts, a carry over from the Challenge cars which resulted in lighter bumpers than those on the Modena. The engine and transmission weight was lightened by through the use of a smaller, lighter weight sports exhaust back box and valved exit pipes. The Challenge Stradale also got Brembo carbon ceramic brakes as standard (which later became standard fitment on the F430) which shaved off the curb weight and improved handling by reducing unsprung weight and completely eliminating brake fade. Cars fitted with the centre console stereo option, sub speaker box behind the seats and glass side windows re-gained approximately over the best selected options.


title: Ferrari 360

text: Based on the 360 Modena road car, the 360 Challenge was an extensively reworked, track-oriented model intended to compete in Ferrari's one-make racing series called the Ferrari Challenge.


title: Ferrari 360

text: It was only available with the electrohydraulic-actuated automated manual transmission. At the time of launch, Ferrari claimed the 360 Challenge accelerated from 0 to in 3.9 seconds (0.6 seconds quicker than the standard 360 Modena F1) and could corner and brake significantly faster than the road car due to added aerodynamic elements. Brembo racing provided the upgraded Gold coloured calipers and larger floating 2-piece discs, while Bosch provided the race-oriented ABS software. The exhaust system was lightened substantially and was one of the main contributions to the increased power output over the standard engine (as ignition mapping was claimed to virtually be the same). For the road cars (even the Challenge Stradale) Ferrari used a valve system that made the car more socially acceptable at lower revs (and therefore able to pass drive-by noise tests).


title: Ferrari 360

text: Less than 200 were made and marketed by Ferrari as a pure race car, requiring purchasers to enter their Ferrari 360 Challenge into the Ferrari Challenge race series as a condition of sale.


title: Ferrari 360

text: Unlike the previous Challenge race series, which utilised an F355 road car with a dealer-installed 'challenge upgrade' kit, the 360 Challenge was a factory-built track car. The enhanced driving characteristics and substantial weight reduction meant the car could comfortably outperform its road-going counterpart even though power from the 3.6-litre engine was claimed to be similar.


title: Ferrari 360

text: The 360 Challenge featured a stripped-down race-oriented interior with the stereo, electric windows and locks, soundproofing, airbags, air-conditioning, and even the handbrake removed. The seats and restraints were replaced by a single carbon-fibre racing seat and FIA approved restraint harnesses, and a roll cage was fitted for safety along with a fire suppression system. The instrument cluster was reworked with a monochrome LCD to display vital engine data. The adaptive suspension of the road car was replaced by adjustable racing dampers, while larger brakes with extra cooling ducts were added.


title: Ferrari 360

text: The Ferrari 360 N-GT was a 360 Challenge race car tuned by Michellotto for the N-GT category of the FIA GT Championship. It was the fastest version of the Ferrari 360 with the engine generating a power output of over when derestricted. The 360 N-GT was capable of a top speed of around with a 0– acceleration time of around 3 seconds. It was the final car built through a Ferrari-Michelotto collaboration. The car is still raced internationally with success to this day. The most recent major victory achieved by a 360 Michelotto was by SB Race Engineering at the 2011 Britcar Championship, where the 360 N-GT, as on many occasions, outperformed the newer F430 GT.


title: Ferrari 360

text: In 2002, a 360 N-GT was driven in the Australian Nations Cup Championship for GT style cars. Run by Prancing Horse Racing to replace the teams 360 Challenge and driven by highly successful Australian race driver John Bowe, the car would eventually place 3rd in the 2002 championship. PHR then entered the Ferrari in the 2002 Bathurst 24 Hour race at the famous Mount Panorama Circuit, where Brad Jones put the 360 N-GT on pole position. After running in 2nd place behind the 7.0-litre Holden Monaro 427C which would go on to win the race outright, the 360 N-GT lost its oil pressure. PHR then did an engine change in just 3 hours, only to have the replacement engine also lose oil pressure just under 3 hours later ending their race. Bowe then finished 2nd in the 2003 Nations Cup Championship before the car was raced one last time in the 2003 Bathurst 24 Hour, where it was run by Austrian-based team BE Racing. Driven by David Brabham, Andrea Montermini, Klaus Engelhorn and Philipp Peter, the Ferrari qualified in 7th place and after running 3rd for a number of hours behind the Holden Monaros, was retired on lap 287.


title: Ferrari 360

text: The Ferrari 360 GT is a race version of the 360 Modena developed by the "Ferrari Corse Clienti" department in Maranello, in collaboration with Michelotto Automobili to compete in the FIA N-GT class.


title: Ferrari 360

text: Team JMB Giesse raced the cars during the 2001 FIA GT Championship season and won the N-GT Cup for Drivers and the N-GT Cup for Teams.


title: Ferrari 360

text: From 2002 to 2004, Ferrari produced and sold 20 360 GTs to customers through their Corse Clienti department.


title: Ferrari 360

text: The 3.6-litre V8 engine was tuned to generate a power output of which was a significant improvement over the 360 Challenge cars.


title: Ferrari 360

text: Significant additional weight reduction efforts were taken over the regular 360 Challenge cars such as lightening the wiring loom (saving 7 kg alone) as well as removing all unnecessary weight like air-conditioning brackets and doors which were now made from one-piece of carbon fibre along with the front compartment lid.


title: Ferrari 360

text: The Final results of all the weight reduction in the 360 GT's kerb weight was over the 360 Challenge cars (1,070 kg or 2,354 lbs). Ballast was used to bring the car back up to the regulation limit of .


title: Ferrari 360

text: The Ferrari 360 GTC has been developed to replace the previous 360 GT. With a kerb weight of (with ballast), it was built since 2004 by Ferrari Corse Clienti department in collaboration with Michelotto Automobili to compete in the N-GT class. It made use of recent evolutions successfully race tested on the Ferrari 360 GT, with a sequential six-speed gearbox and a further improved Magneti Marelli electronics package. The aerodynamics are substantially different from the 360 GT, given that the 360 GTC had been newly homologated by FIA/ACO from the Challenge Stradale, taking up from its basic elements: front bumper, side skirts, engine cover and double rear end. Wind tunnel research has led to a new system for the rear wing, with a notable improvement in vertical downforce. The performance of the 90-degree V8 engine has been improved in terms of fuel consumption.


title: Ferrari 360

text: In 2009, a privately owned Veloqx-Prodrive Racing 360 raced de-restricted, fully tuned variations of the GT-C in endurance races around the world including Silverstone, Sebring and Le-Mans.


title: Ferrari 360

text: The original 360GT's power output was at 8,750 rpm, the GTC bettered that raising peak power to while still breathing through the mandatory air restrictors.


title: Ferrari 360

text: Chris Harris reported that the 360 Modena press car was "ludicrously quick" (two seconds faster to than the customer car they tested) and sounded more like a racing car than a street car, but the other cars were different. While performance claims for the 360 were equal to or higher than the previous model, when "Car and Driver" tested a stock 360 it proved heavier and slower than its predecessor's claimed performance from five years before.


title: Nancy Carroll (British actress)

text: Nancy Carroll (born 1974) is a British actress. She has worked extensively in theatre productions, particularly with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She also has numerous film and television credits, including a long-running feature role as Lady Felicia in the BBC series "Father Brown".


title: Nancy Carroll (British actress)

text: Nancy Carroll grew up in Herne Hill in south London and attended Alleyn's School where she was an enthusiastic participant in student theatre. Before training in theatre, she worked at a hat shop in Lavender Hill. She trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, from which she graduated in June 1998.


title: Nancy Carroll (British actress)

text: Right after graduation, she landed a small part in the film "An Ideal Husband" and then joined the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). Her first professional stage role was as Ophelia in "Hamlet" at the Bristol Old Vic in 1999. She has appeared onstage in productions of George Etherege's "The Man of Mode" (2007), Harley Granville-Barker's "The Voysey Inheritance" (2006), as Emma Jung in "The Talking Cure", and Pierre de Marivaux's "The False Servant" (1 June – 15 September 2004) at the Royal National Theatre. She has also appeared at the Almeida Theatre in Jonathan Kent's "King Lear" (also at The Old Vic) and in another Granville-Barker play, "Waste" (2008).


title: Nancy Carroll (British actress)

text: Her "Lady Croom" in the 2009 London revival of Stoppard's "Arcadia" received favourable reviews, as did her successful run as the psychologist Dr Ford in David Mamet's "House of Games" at the Almeida Theatre.


title: Nancy Carroll (British actress)

text: She has appeared onstage with her husband Jo Stone-Fewings several times, in "See How They Run" (2006) and in the Noël Coward double bill at the Liverpool Playhouse in March 2004 ("The Astonished Heart" and "Still Life"). In 2009, she appeared as Viola opposite her husband's Orsino in an RSC production of "Twelfth Night" directed by Gregory Doran.


title: Nancy Carroll (British actress)

text: Carroll appeared alongside Benedict Cumberbatch and Adrian Scarborough in Thea Sharrock's revival of Terence Rattigan's play, "After the Dance", at the Royal National Theatre in 2010. Her "heartbreaking performance" won her the Best Actress award in the Evening Standard drama awards and Olivier awards for 2010.


title: Nancy Carroll (British actress)

text: Carroll appeared alongside John Lithgow, Joshua McGuire and Nicholas Burns in Arthur Wing Pinero's Victorian farce "The Magistrate" at the Royal National Theatre in 2012. In 2013 she played the lead role of Felicity Houston in "The Duck House" by Dan Patterson and Colin Swash, starring alongside Ben Miller and Diana Vickers. The show was a political satire based on the UK parliamentary expenses scandal and toured for 5 weeks before transferring to London's Vaudeville Theatre.


title: Nancy Carroll (British actress)

text: On television, she played the part of aristocratic Nazi sympathiser Frances Doble in the BBC2 miniseries "Cambridge Spies" (2003). Other credits include guest appearances on "The Suspicions of Mr Whicher", "Silent Witness", "Lewis", and episodes of "Midsomer Murders". From 2013, she was a regular cast member on the BBC detective series "Father Brown", playing wealthy socialite Lady Felicia Montague. In 2017 she was in 4 episodes of "Prime Suspect 1973" playing Mary Collins.


title: Nancy Carroll (British actress)

text: In March 2022, Carroll debuted in the lead role of Marine Bonnet in "Murder in Provence", a BritBox cosy crime drama based on the Verlaque & Bonnet detective novels by ML Longworth, alongside Endeavour actor Roger Allam as her romantic partner, Antoine Verlaque.


title: Nancy Carroll (British actress)

text: She is married to actor Jo Stone-Fewings; the couple has one daughter. They met as part of an RSC company that went on tour for a week and a half, providing material for Michael Wood's documentary series "In Search of Shakespeare" (broadcast 2003), and became engaged nine days after first meeting.


title: Black rat

text: The black rat (Rattus rattus), also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus "Rattus", in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is now found worldwide.


title: Black rat

text: The black rat is black to light brown in colour with a lighter underside. It is a generalist omnivore and a serious pest to farmers because it feeds on a wide range of agricultural crops. It is sometimes kept as a pet. In parts of India, it is considered sacred and respected in the Karni Mata Temple in Deshnoke.


title: Black rat

text: Three subspecies were once recognized, but today are considered invalid and are now known to be actually color morphs:


title: Black rat

text: A typical adult black rat is long, not including a tail, and weighs , depending on the subspecies. Despite its name, the black rat exhibits several colour forms. It is usually black to light brown in colour with a lighter underside. In England during the 1920s, several variations were bred and shown alongside domesticated brown rats. This included an unusual green-tinted variety. The black rat also has a scraggly coat of black fur, and is slightly smaller than the brown rat.


title: Black rat

text: Black rat bone remains dating to the Norman period were discovered in Great Britain. The black rat occurred in prehistoric Europe and in the Levant during postglacial periods. The specific origin of the black rat is uncertain due to its disappearance and reintroduction. Evidence such as DNA and bone fragments also indicate that it did not originate in Europe, but migrated from Southeast Asia, possibly Malaysia. It probably spread across Europe in the wake of the Roman conquest. Possibly, speciation occurred when it colonized southwestern India, which was the primary country from which Romans obtained their spices. Since the black rat is a passive traveler, it could have easily traveled to Europe during the trading between Rome and the Southwest Asian countries. The black rat in the Mediterranean region differs genetically from its Southeast Asian ancestor by having 38 instead of 42 chromosomes. It is a resilient vector for many diseases because of its ability to hold so many infectious bacteria in its blood. It played a primary role in spreading bacteria contained in fleas on its body, such as the plague bacterium ("Yersinia pestis") which is responsible for the Plague of Justinian and the Black Death.


title: Black rat

text: A study published in 2015 indicates that other Asiatic rodents served as plague reservoirs, from which infections spread as far west as Europe via trade routes, both overland and maritime. Although the black rat was certainly a plague vector in European ports, the spread of the plague beyond areas colonized by rats suggests that the plague was also circulated by humans after reaching Europe.


title: Black rat

text: Black rats are considered omnivores and eat a wide range of foods, including seeds, fruit, stems, leaves, fungi, and a variety of invertebrates and vertebrates. They are generalists, and thus not very specific in their food preferences, which is indicated by their tendency to feed on any meal provided for cows, swine, chickens, cats, and dogs. They are similar to the tree squirrel in their preference of fruits and nuts. They eat about per day and drink about per day. Their diet is high in water content. They are a threat to many natural habitats because they feed on birds and insects. They are also a threat to many farmers, since they feed on a variety of agricultural-based crops, such as cereals, sugar cane, coconuts, cocoa, oranges, and coffee beans.


title: Black rat

text: The black rat originated in India and Southeast Asia, and spread to the Near East and Egypt, and then throughout the Roman Empire, reaching Great Britain as early as the 1st century AD. Europeans subsequently spread it throughout the world. The black rat is again largely confined to warmer areas, having been supplanted by the brown rat ("Rattus norvegicus") in cooler regions and urban areas. In addition to the brown rat being larger and more aggressive, the change from wooden structures and thatched roofs to bricked and tiled buildings favored the burrowing brown rats over the arboreal black rats. In addition, brown rats eat a wider variety of foods, and are more resistant to weather extremes.


title: Black rat

text: Black rat populations can increase exponentially under certain circumstances, perhaps having to do with the timing of the fruiting of the bamboo plant, and cause devastation to the plantings of subsistence farmers; this phenomenon is known as "mautam" in parts of India.


title: Black rat

text: Black rats are thought to have arrived in Australia with the First Fleet, and subsequently spread to many coastal regions in the country.


title: Black rat

text: Black rats adapt to a wide range of habitats. In urban areas they are found around warehouses, residential buildings, and other human settlements. They are also found in agricultural areas, such as in barns and crop fields. In urban areas, they prefer to live in dry upper levels of buildings, so they are commonly found in wall cavities and false ceilings. In the wild, black rats live in cliffs, rocks, the ground, and trees. They are great climbers and prefer to live in palms and trees, such as pine trees. Their nests are typically spherical and made of shredded material, including sticks, leaves, other vegetation, and cloth. In the absence of palms or trees, they can burrow into the ground. Black rats are also found around fences, ponds, riverbanks, streams, and reservoirs.


title: Black rat

text: It is thought that male and female rats have similarly sized home ranges during the winter, but male rats increase the size of their home range during the breeding season. Along with differing between rats of different sex, home range also differs depending on the type of forest in which the black rat inhabits. For example, home ranges in the southern beech forests of the South Island, New Zealand appear to be much larger than the non-beech forests of the North Island. Due to the limited number of rats that are studied in home range studies, the estimated sizes of rat home ranges in different rat demographic groups are inconclusive.


title: Black rat

text: Through the usage of tracking devices such as radio transmitters, rats have been found to occupy dens located in trees, as well as on the ground. In Puketi Forest in the Northland Region of New Zealand, rats have been found to form dens together. Rats appear to den and forage in separate areas in their home range depending on the availability of food resources. Research shows that, in New South Wales, the black rat prefers to inhabit lower leaf litter of forest habitat. There is also an apparent correlation between the canopy height and logs and the presence of black rats. This correlation may be a result of the distribution of the abundance of prey as well as available refuges for rats to avoid predators. As found in North Head, New South Wales, there is positive correlation between rat abundance, leaf litter cover, canopy height, and litter depth. All other habitat variables showed little to no correlation. While this species' relative, the brown (Norway) rat prefers to nest near the ground of a building the black rat will prefer the upper floors and roof. Because of this habit they have been given the common name roof rat.


title: Black rat

text: The black rat displays flexibility in its foraging behaviour. It is a predatory species and adapts to different micro-habitats. It often meets and forages together in close proximity within and between sexes. It tends to forage after sunset. If the food cannot be eaten quickly, it searches for a place to carry and hoard to eat at a later time. Although it eats a broad range of foods, it is a highly selective feeder; only a restricted selection of the foods is dominating. When offered a wide diversity of foods, it eats only a small sample of each. This allows to monitoring the quality of foods that are present year round, such as leaves, as well as seasonal foods, such as herbs and insects. This method of operating on a set of foraging standards ultimately determines the final composition of its meals. Also, by sampling the available food in an area, it maintains a dynamic food supply, balance its nutrient intake, and avoids intoxication by secondary compounds.


title: Black rat

text: Black rats (or their ectoparasites) can carry a number of pathogens, of which bubonic plague (via the Oriental rat flea), typhus, Weil's disease, toxoplasmosis and trichinosis are the best known. It has been hypothesized that the displacement of black rats by brown rats led to the decline of the Black Death. This theory has, however, been deprecated, as the dates of these displacements do not match the increases and decreases in plague outbreaks.


title: Black rat

text: Rats serve as outstanding vectors for transmittance of diseases because they can carry bacteria and viruses in their systems. A number of bacterial diseases are common to rats, and these include "Streptococcus pneumoniae", "Corynebacterium kutsheri," "Bacillus piliformis", "Pasteurella pneumotropica", and "Streptobacillus moniliformis", to name a few. All of these bacteria are disease causing agents in humans. In some cases, these diseases are incurable.


title: Black rat

text: The black rat is prey to cats and owls in domestic settings. In less urban settings, rats are preyed on by weasels, foxes, and coyotes. These predators have little effect on the control of the black rat population because black rats are agile and fast climbers. In addition to agility, the black rat also uses its keen sense of hearing to detect danger and quickly evade mammalian and avian predators.


title: Black rat

text: After "Rattus rattus" was introduced into the northern islands of New Zealand, they fed on the seedlings, adversely affecting the ecology of the islands. Even after eradication of "R. rattus", the negative effects may take decades to reverse. When consuming these seabirds and seabird eggs, these rats reduce the pH of the soil. This harms plant species by reducing nutrient availability in soil, thus decreasing the probability of seed germination. For example, research conducted by Hoffman et al. indicates a large impact on 16 indigenous plant species directly preyed on by "R. rattus". These plants displayed a negative correlation in germination and growth in the presence of black rats.


title: Black rat

text: Rats prefer to forage in forest habitats. In the Ogasawara islands, they prey on the indigenous snails and seedlings. Snails that inhabit the leaf litter of these islands showed a significant decline in population on the introduction of "Rattus rattus". The black rat shows a preference for snails with larger shells (greater than 10 mm), and this led to a great decline in the population of snails with larger shells. A lack of prey refuges makes it more difficult for the snail to avoid the rat.


title: Black rat

text: The black rat is a complex pest, defined as one that influences the environment in both harmful and beneficial ways. In many cases, after the black rat is introduced into a new area, the population size of some native species declines or goes extinct. This is because the black rat is a good generalist with a wide dietary niche and a preference for complex habitats; this causes strong competition for resources among small animals. This has led to the black rat completely displacing many native species in Madagascar, the Galapagos, and the Florida Keys. In a study by Stokes "et al.", habitats suitable for the native bush rat, "Rattus fuscipes", of Australia are often invaded by the black rat and are eventually occupied by only the black rat. When the abundances of these two rat species were compared in different micro-habitats, both were found to be affected by micro-habitat disturbances, but the black rat was most abundant in areas of high disturbance; this indicates it has a better dispersal ability.


title: Black rat

text: Despite the black rat's tendency to displace native species, it can also aid in increasing species population numbers and maintaining species diversity. The bush rat, a common vector for spore dispersal of truffles, has been extirpated from many micro-habitats of Australia. In the absence of a vector, the diversity of truffle species would be expected to decline. In a study in New South Wales, Australia it was found that, although the bush rat consumes a diversity of truffle species, the black rat consumes as much of the diverse fungi as the natives and is an effective vector for spore dispersal. Since the black rat now occupies many of the micro-habitats that were previously inhabited by the bush rat, the black rat plays an important ecological role in the dispersal of fungal spores. By eradicating the black rat populations in Australia, the diversity of fungi would decline, potentially doing more harm than good.


title: Black rat

text: Large-scale rat control programs have been taken to maintain a steady level of the invasive predators in order to conserve the native species in New Zealand such as kokako and mohua. Pesticides, such as pindone and 1080 (sodium fluoroacetate), are commonly distributed via aerial spray by helicopter as a method of mass control on islands infested with invasive rat populations. Bait, such as brodifacoum, is also used along with coloured dyes (used to deter birds from eating the baits) in order to kill and identify rats for experimental and tracking purposes. Another method to track rats is the use of wired cage traps, which are used along with bait, such as rolled oats and peanut butter, to tag and track rats to determine population sizes through methods like mark-recapture and radio-tracking. Tracking tunnels (coreflute tunnels containing an inked card) are also commonly used monitoring devices, as are chew-cards containing peanut butter. Poison control methods are effective in reducing rat populations to nonthreatening sizes, but rat populations often rebound to normal size within months. Besides their highly adaptive foraging behavior and fast reproduction, the exact mechanisms for their rebound is unclear and are still being studied.


title: Black rat

text: In 2010, the Sociedad Ornitológica Puertorriqueña (Puerto Rican Bird Society) and the Ponce Yacht and Fishing Club launched a campaign to eradicate the black rat from the Isla Ratones (Mice Island) and Isla Cardona (Cardona Island) islands off the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico.


title: Black rat

text: "Rattus rattus" populations were common in Great Britain, but began to decline after the introduction of the brown rat in the 18th century. "R. rattus" populations remained common in seaports and major cities until the late 19th century, but have been decreased due to rodent control and sanitation measures. The Shiant Islands in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland are often cited as the last remaining wild population of "R. rattus" left in Britain but evidence demonstrates that populations survive on other islands (e.g. Inchcolm) and in localised areas of the British mainland. Recent National Biodiversity Network data show populations around the U.K., particularly in ports and port towns. This is supported by anecdotal records from London and Liverpool.


title: Black rat

text: As of winter 2015 the Shiant Isles Recovery Project (a joint initiative between RSPB and Scottish Natural Heritage) is underway to eradicate "Rattus rattus" populations on the islands.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: The relationship between biology and sexual orientation is a subject of research. While scientists do not know the exact cause of sexual orientation, they theorize that it is caused by a complex interplay of genetic, hormonal, and environmental influences. Hypotheses for the impact of the post-natal social environment on sexual orientation, however, are weak, especially for males.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: Biological theories for explaining the causes of sexual orientation are favored by scientists. These factors, which may be related to the development of a sexual orientation, include genes, the early uterine environment (such as prenatal hormones), and brain structure.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: The influence of hormones on the developing fetus has been the most influential causal hypothesis of the development of sexual orientation. In simple terms, the developing fetal brain begins in a "female" typical state. The presence of the Y-chromosome in males prompts the development of testes, which release testosterone, the primary androgen receptor-activating hormone, to masculinize the fetus and fetal brain. This masculinizing effect pushes males towards male typical brain structures, and most of the time, attraction to females. It has been hypothesized that gay men may have been exposed to little testosterone in key regions of the brain, or had different levels of receptivity to its masculinizing effects, or experienced fluctuations at critical times. In women, it is hypothesized that high levels of exposure to testosterone in key regions may increase likelihood of same sex attraction. Supporting this are studies of the finger digit ratio of the right hand, which is a robust marker of prenatal testosterone exposure. Lesbians on average, have significantly more masculine digit ratios, a finding which has been replicated numerous times in studies cross-culturally. While direct effects are hard to measure for ethical reasons, animal experiments where scientists manipulate exposure to sex hormones during gestation can also induce lifelong male-typical behavior and mounting in female animals, and female-typical behavior in male animals.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: Maternal immune responses during fetal development are strongly demonstrated as causing male homosexuality and bisexuality. Research since the 1990s has demonstrated that the more male sons a woman has, there is a higher chance of later born sons being gay. During pregnancy, male cells enter a mother's bloodstream, which are foreign to her immune system. In response, she develops antibodies to neutralize them. These antibodies are then released on future male foetuses and may neutralize Y-linked antigens, which play a role in brain masculinization, leaving areas of the brain responsible for sexual attraction in the female-typical position, or attracted to men. The more sons a mother has will increase the levels of these antibodies, thus creating the observed fraternal birth order effect. Biochemical evidence to support this effect was confirmed in a lab study in 2017, finding that mothers with a gay son, particularly those with older brothers, had heightened levels of antibodies to the NLGN4Y Y-protein than mothers with heterosexual sons. J. Michael Bailey has described maternal immune responses as "causal" of male homosexuality. This effect is estimated to account for between 15 and 29% of gay men, while other gay and bisexual men are thought to owe sexual orientation to genetic and hormonal interactions.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: Socialization theories, which were dominant in the 1900s, favored the idea that children were born "undifferentiated" and were socialized into gender roles and sexual orientation. This led to medical experiments in which newborn and infant boys were surgically reassigned into girls after accidents such as botched circumcisions. These males were then reared and raised as females without telling the boys, which, contrary to expectations, did not make them feminine nor attracted to men. All published cases providing sexual orientation grew up to be strongly attracted to women. The failure of these experiments demonstrate that socialization effects does not induce feminine type behavior in males, nor make them attracted to men, and that the organizational effects of hormones on the fetal brain prior to birth have permanent effects. These are indicative of 'nature', not nurture, at least with regards to male sexual orientation.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: The sexually dimorphic nucleus of the preoptic area (SDN-POA) is a key region of the brain which differs between males and females in humans and a number of mammals (e.g., sheep/rams, mice, rats), and is caused by sex differences in hormone exposure. The INAH-3 region is bigger in males than in females, and is thought to be a critical region in sexual behavior. Dissection studies found that gay men had significantly smaller sized INAH-3 than heterosexual males, which is shifted in the female typical direction, a finding first demonstrated by neuroscientist Simon LeVay, which has been replicated. Dissection studies are rare, however, due to lack of funding and brain samples.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: Long-term studies of domesticated sheep led by Charles Roselli have found that 6-8% of rams have a homosexual preference through their life. Dissection of ram brains also found a similar smaller (feminized) structure in homosexually oriented rams compared to heterosexually oriented rams in the equivalent brain region to the human SDN, the ovine sexually dimorphic nucleus (oSDN). The size of the sheep oSDN has also been demonstrated to be formed in utero, rather than postnatally, underscoring the role of prenatal hormones in masculinization of the brain for sexual attraction.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: Other studies in humans have relied on brain imaging technology, such as research led by Ivanka Savic which compared hemispheres of the brain. This research found that straight men had right hemispheres 2% larger than the left, described as modest but "highly significant difference" by LeVay. In heterosexual women, the two hemispheres were the same size. In gay men, the two hemispheres were also the same size, or sex atypical, while in lesbians, the right hemispheres were slightly larger than the left, indicating a small shift in the male direction.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: A model proposed by evolutionary geneticist William R. Rice argues that a misexpressed epigenetic modifier of testosterone sensitivity or insensitivity that affected development of the brain can explain homosexuality, and can best explain twin discordance. Rice et al. propose that these epimarks normally canalize sexual development, preventing intersex conditions in most of the population, but sometimes failing to erase across generations and causing reversed sexual preference. On grounds of evolutionary plausibility, Gavrilets, Friberg and Rice argue that all mechanisms for exclusive homosexual orientations likely trace back to their epigenetic model. Testing this hypothesis is possible with current stem cell technology.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: Prenatal thyroid theory of same-sex attraction/gender dysphoria has been based on clinical and developmental observations of youngsters presenting to child psychiatry clinics in Istanbul/Turkey. The report of 12 cases with same-sex attraction/gender dysphoria born to mothers with thyroid diseases was first presented in EPA Congress, Vienna (2015) and published as an article in the same year. The extremely significant relationship between the two conditions suggested an independent model, named as "Prenatal Thyroid Model of Homosexuality". According to Turkish child & adolescent psychiatrist Osman Sabuncuoglu, who generated the theory, maternal thyroid dysfunction may lead to abnormal deviations from gender-specific development in the offspring. Autoimmune destructive process as seen in Hashimoto thyroiditis, diminished supply of thyroid hormones and impacts on prenatal androgen system were all considered as contributing mechanisms. In a follow-up theoretical paper, previous research findings indicating higher rates of  polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in female-to-male transsexuals and lesbian women were conceived as an indication of "Prenatal Thyroid Model" since PCOS and autoimmune thyroiditis are frequently comorbid diseases. Likewise, increased rates of autism spectrum disorder in children born to mothers with thyroid dysfunction and overrepresentation of ASD individuals in gender dysphoria populations suggest such an association. A second group of young children with this pattern were presented in IACAPAP Congress, Prague (2018).


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: The findings from previous research in LGBT populations had called for attention to be paid to thyroid system. A commentary by Jeffrey Mullen, published shortly after the 2015 article, underlined the importance of "Prenatal Thyroid Model" and supported developments in this field. Afterwards, several authors have emphasized the role of thyroid system in sexuality while citing the "Prenatal Thyroid Model." Among them, Carosa et al. concluded that thyroid hormones, affecting the human sexual function strongly, the thyroid gland must be considered, along with the genitals and the brain, a sexual organ. As a tertiary source, an authoritative book on the subject of interplay between endocrinology, brain and behavior has also cited the thyroid-homosexuality proposal article in the latest edition. Most importantly, a genome-wide genetic association study on male homosexuals identified a significant region on Chromosome 14 which is related to autoimmune thyroid dysfunction in human beings. This is apparently a big support to the "Prenatal Thyroid Model."


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: Multiple genes have been found to play a role in sexual orientation. Scientists caution that many people misconstrue the meanings of "genetic" and "environmental". "Environmental influence" does not automatically imply that the social environment influences or contributes to the development of sexual orientation. Hypotheses for the impact of the post-natal social environment on sexual orientation are weak, especially for males. There is, however, a vast non-social environment that is non-genetic yet still biological, such as prenatal development, that likely helps shape sexual orientation.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: A number of twin studies have attempted to compare the relative importance of genetics and environment in the determination of sexual orientation. In a 1991 study, Bailey and Pillard conducted a study of male twins recruited from "homophile publications", and found that 52% of monozygotic (MZ) brothers (of whom 59 were questioned) and 22% of the dizygotic (DZ) twins were concordant for homosexuality. 'MZ' indicates identical twins with the same sets of genes and 'DZ' indicates fraternal twins where genes are mixed to an extent similar to that of non-twin siblings. In a study of 61 pairs of twins, researchers found among their mostly male subjects a concordance rate for homosexuality of 66% among monozygotic twins and a 30% one among dizygotic twins. In 2000, Bailey, Dunne and Martin studied a larger sample of 4,901 Australian twins but reported less than half the level of concordance. They found 20% concordance in the male identical or MZ twins and 24% concordance for the female identical or MZ twins. Self reported zygosity, sexual attraction, fantasy and behaviours were assessed by questionnaire and zygosity was serologically checked when in doubt. Other researchers support biological causes for both men and women's sexual orientation.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: A 2008 study of all adult twins in Sweden (more than 7,600 twins) found that same-sex behaviour was explained by both heritable genetic factors and "unique environmental" factors (which can include the prenatal environment during gestation, exposure to illness in early life, peer groups not shared with a twin, etc.), although a twin study cannot identify which factor is at play. Influences of the "shared environment" (influences including the family environment, rearing, shared peer groups, culture and societal views, and sharing the same school and community) had no effect for men, and a weak effect for women. This is consistent with the common finding that parenting and culture appears to play no role in male sexual orientation, but may play some small role in women. The study concludes that genetic influences on any lifetime same-sex partner were stronger for men than women, and that "it has been suggested individual differences in heterosexual and homosexual behavior result from unique environmental factors such as prenatal exposure to sex hormones, progressive maternal immunization to sex-specific proteins, or neurodevelopmental factors", although does not rule out other variables. The use of all adult twins in Sweden was designed to address the criticism of volunteer studies, in which a potential bias towards participation by gay twins may influence the results:


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: Chromosome linkage studies of sexual orientation have indicated the presence of multiple contributing genetic factors throughout the genome. In 1993, Dean Hamer and colleagues published findings from a linkage analysis of a sample of 76 gay brothers and their families. Hamer et al. found that the gay men had more gay male uncles and cousins on the maternal side of the family than on the paternal side. Gay brothers who showed this maternal pedigree were then tested for X chromosome linkage, using twenty-two markers on the X chromosome to test for similar alleles. In another finding, thirty-three of the forty sibling pairs tested were found to have similar alleles in the distal region of Xq28, which was significantly higher than the expected rates of 50% for fraternal brothers. This was popularly dubbed the "gay gene" in the media, causing significant controversy. In 1998, Sanders et al. reported on their similar study, in which they found that 13% of uncles of gay brothers on the maternal side were homosexual, compared with 6% on the paternal side.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: A later analysis by Hu et al. replicated and refined the earlier findings. This study revealed that 67% of gay brothers in a new saturated sample shared a marker on the X chromosome at Xq28. Two other studies (Bailey et al., 1999; McKnight and Malcolm, 2000) failed to find a preponderance of gay relatives in the maternal line of homosexual men. One study by Rice et al. in 1999 failed to replicate the Xq28 linkage results. Meta-analysis of all available linkage data indicates a significant link to Xq28, but also indicates that additional genes must be present to account for the full heritability of sexual orientation.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: Mustanski et al. (2005) performed a full-genome scan (instead of just an X chromosome scan) on individuals and families previously reported on in Hamer et al. (1993) and Hu et al. (1995), as well as additional new subjects. In the full sample they did not find linkage to Xq28.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: Results from the first large, comprehensive multi-center genetic linkage study of male sexual orientation were reported by an independent group of researchers at the American Society of Human Genetics in 2012. The study population included 409 independent pairs of gay brothers, who were analyzed with over 300,000 single-nucleotide polymorphism markers. The data strongly replicated Hamer's Xq28 findings as determined by both two-point and multipoint (MERLIN) LOD score mapping. Significant linkage was also detected in the pericentromeric region of chromosome 8, overlapping with one of the regions detected in the Hamer lab's previous genomewide study. The authors concluded that "our findings, taken in context with previous work, suggest that genetic variation in each of these regions contributes to development of the important psychological trait of male sexual orientation". Female sexual orientation does not seem to be linked to Xq28, though it does appear moderately heritable.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: In addition to sex chromosomal contribution, a potential autosomal genetic contribution to the development of homosexual orientation has also been suggested. In a study population composed of more than 7000 participants, Ellis et al. (2008) found a statistically significant difference in the frequency of blood type A between homosexuals and heterosexuals. They also found that "unusually high" proportions of homosexual males and homosexual females were Rh negative in comparison to heterosexuals. As both blood type and Rh factor are genetically inherited traits controlled by alleles located on chromosome 9 and chromosome 1 respectively, the study indicates a potential link between genes on autosomes and homosexuality.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: The biology of sexual orientation has been studied in detail in several animal model systems. In the common fruit fly "Drosophila melanogaster", the complete pathway of sexual differentiation of the brain and the behaviors it controls is well established in both males and females, providing a concise model of biologically controlled courtship. In mammals, a group of geneticists at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology bred a female mice specifically lacking a particular gene related to sexual behavior. Without the gene, the mice exhibited masculine sexual behavior and attraction toward urine of other female mice. Those mice who retained the gene fucose mutarotase (FucM) were attracted to male mice.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: In interviews to the press, researchers have pointed that the evidence of genetic influences should not be equated with genetic determinism. According to Dean Hamer and Michael Bailey, genetic aspects are only one of the multiple causes of homosexuality.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: In 2017, "Scientific Reports" published an article with a genome wide association study on male sexual orientation. The research consisted of 1,077 homosexual men and 1,231 heterosexual men. A gene named "SLITRK6" on chromosome 13 was identified. The research supports another study which had been done by the neuroscientist Simon LeVay. LeVay's research suggested that the hypothalamus of gay men is different from straight men. The SLITRK6 is active in the mid-brain where the hypothalamus is. The researchers found that the thyroid stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR) on chromosome 14 shows sequence differences between gay and straight men. Graves' disease is associated with TSHR abnormalities, with previous research indicating that Graves' disease is more common in gay men than in straight men. Research indicated that gay people have lower body weight than straight people. It had been suggested that the overactive TSHR hormone lowered body weight in gay people, though this remains unproven.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: In 2018, Ganna et al. performed another genome-wide association study on sexual orientation of men and women with data from 26,890 people who had at least one same-sex partner and 450,939 controls. The data in the study was meta-analyzed and obtained from the UK Biobank study and 23andMe. The researchers identified four variants more common in people who reported at least one same-sex experience on chromosomes 7, 11, 12, and 15. The variants on chromosomes 11 and 15 were specific to men, with the variant on chromosome 11 located in an olfactory gene and the variant on chromosome 15 having previously been linked to male-pattern baldness. The four variants were also correlated with mood and mental health disorders; major depressive disorder and schizophrenia in men and women, and bipolar disorder in women. However, none of the four variants could reliably predict sexual orientation.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: In August 2019, a genome-wide association study of 493,001 individuals concluded that hundreds or thousands of genetic variants underlie homosexual behavior in both sexes, with 5 variants in particular being significantly associated. Some of these variants had sex-specific effects, and two of these variants suggested links to biological pathways that involve sex hormone regulation and olfaction. All the variants together captured between 8 and 25% of the variation in individual differences in homosexual behavior. These genes partly overlap with those for several other traits, including openness to experience and risk-taking behavior. Additional analyses suggested that sexual behavior, attraction, identity, and fantasies are influenced by a similar set of genetic variants. They also found that the genetic effects that differentiate heterosexual from homosexual behavior are not the same as those that differ among nonheterosexuals with lower versus higher proportions of same-sex partners, which suggests that there is no single continuum from heterosexual to homosexual preference, as suggested by the Kinsey scale.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: In October 2021, another research paper reported that genetic factors influence the development of same-sex sexual behavior. A two-stage genome-wide association study (GWAS) with a total sample of 1478 homosexual males and 3313 heterosexual males in Han Chinese populations identified two genetic loci (FMR1NB and ZNF536) showing consistent association with male sexual orientation.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: A study suggests linkage between a mother's genetic make-up and homosexuality of her sons. Women have two X chromosomes, one of which is "switched off". The inactivation of the X chromosome occurs randomly throughout the embryo, resulting in cells that are mosaic with respect to which chromosome is active. In some cases though, it appears that this switching off can occur in a non-random fashion. Bocklandt et al. (2006) reported that, in mothers of homosexual men, the number of women with extreme skewing of X chromosome inactivation is significantly higher than in mothers without gay sons. 13% of mothers with one gay son, and 23% of mothers with two gay sons, showed extreme skewing, compared to 4% of mothers without gay sons.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: Blanchard and Klassen (1997) reported that each additional older brother increases the odds of a man being gay by 33%. This is now "one of the most reliable epidemiological variables ever identified in the study of sexual orientation". To explain this finding, it has been proposed that male fetuses provoke a maternal immune reaction that becomes stronger with each successive male fetus. This maternal immunization hypothesis (MIH) begins when cells from a male fetus enter the mother's circulation during pregnancy or while giving birth. Male fetuses produce H-Y antigens which are "almost certainly involved in the sexual differentiation of vertebrates". These Y-linked proteins would not be recognized in the mother's immune system because she is female, causing her to develop antibodies which would travel through the placental barrier into the fetal compartment. From here, the anti-male bodies would then cross the blood/brain barrier (BBB) of the developing fetal brain, altering sex-dimorphic brain structures relative to sexual orientation, increasing the likelihood that the exposed son will be more attracted to men than women. It is this antigen which maternal H-Y antibodies are proposed to both react to and 'remember'. Successive male fetuses are then attacked by H-Y antibodies which somehow decrease the ability of H-Y antigens to perform their usual function in brain masculinization.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: In 2017, researchers discovered a biological mechanism of gay people who tend to have older brothers. They think Neuroligin 4 Y-linked protein is responsible for a later son being gay. They found that women had significantly higher anti-NLGN4Y levels than men. In addition, mothers of gay sons, particularly those with older brothers, had significantly higher anti-NLGN4Y levels than did the control samples of women, including mothers of heterosexual sons. The results suggest an association between a maternal immune response to NLGN4Y and subsequent sexual orientation in male offspring.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: The fraternal birth order effect, however, does not apply to instances where a firstborn is homosexual.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: In 2004, Italian researchers conducted a study of about 4,600 people who were the relatives of 98 homosexual and 100 heterosexual men. Female relatives of the homosexual men tended to have more offspring than those of the heterosexual men. Female relatives of the homosexual men on their mother's side tended to have more offspring than those on the father's side. The researchers concluded that there was genetic material being passed down on the X chromosome which both promotes fertility in the mother and homosexuality in her male offspring. The connections discovered would explain about 20% of the cases studied, indicating that this is a highly significant but not the sole genetic factor determining sexual orientation.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: Research conducted in Sweden has suggested that gay and straight men respond differently to two odors that are believed to be involved in sexual arousal. The research showed that when both heterosexual women and gay men are exposed to a testosterone derivative found in men's sweat, a region in the hypothalamus is activated. Heterosexual men, on the other hand, have a similar response to an estrogen-like compound found in women's urine. The conclusion is that sexual attraction, whether same-sex or opposite-sex oriented, operates similarly on a biological level. Researchers have suggested that this possibility could be further explored by studying young subjects to see if similar responses in the hypothalamus are found and then correlating these data with adult sexual orientation.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: A number of sections of the brain have been reported to be sexually dimorphic; that is, they vary between men and women. There have also been reports of variations in brain structure corresponding to sexual orientation. In 1990, Dick Swaab and Michel A. Hofman reported a difference in the size of the suprachiasmatic nucleus between homosexual and heterosexual men. In 1992, Allen and Gorski reported a difference related to sexual orientation in the size of the anterior commissure, but this research was refuted by numerous studies, one of which found that the entirety of the variation was caused by a single outlier.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: Research on the physiologic differences between male and female brains are based on the idea that people have male or a female brain, and this mirrors the behavioral differences between the two sexes. Some researchers state that solid scientific support for this is lacking. Although consistent differences have been identified, including the size of the brain and of specific brain regions, male and female brains are very similar.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: LeVay also conducted some of these early researches. He studied four groups of neurons in the hypothalamus called INAH1, INAH2, INAH3 and INAH4. This was a relevant area of the brain to study, because of evidence that it played a role in the regulation of sexual behaviour in animals, and because INAH2 and INAH3 had previously been reported to differ in size between men and women.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: He obtained brains from 41 deceased hospital patients. The subjects were classified into three groups. The first group comprised 19 gay men who had died of AIDS-related illnesses. The second group comprised 16 men whose sexual orientation was unknown, but whom the researchers presumed to be heterosexual. Six of these men had died of AIDS-related illnesses. The third group was of six women whom the researchers presumed to be heterosexual. One of the women had died of an AIDS-related illness.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: The HIV-positive people in the presumably heterosexual patient groups were all identified from medical records as either intravenous drug abusers or recipients of blood transfusions. Two of the men who identified as heterosexual specifically denied ever engaging in a homosexual sex act. The records of the remaining heterosexual subjects contained no information about their sexual orientation; they were assumed to have been primarily or exclusively heterosexual "on the basis of the numerical preponderance of heterosexual men in the population".


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: LeVay found no evidence for a difference between the groups in the size of INAH1, INAH2 or INAH4. However, the INAH3 group appeared to be twice as big in the heterosexual male group as in the gay male group; the difference was highly significant, and remained significant when only the six AIDS patients were included in the heterosexual group. The size of INAH3 in the homosexual men's brains was comparable to the size of INAH3 in the heterosexual women's brains.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: William Byne and colleagues attempted to identify the size differences reported in INAH 1–4 by replicating the experiment using brain sample from other subjects: 14 HIV-positive homosexual males, 34 presumed heterosexual males (10 HIV-positive), and 34 presumed heterosexual females (9 HIV-positive). The researchers found a significant difference in INAH3 size between heterosexual men and heterosexual women. The INAH3 size of the homosexual men was apparently smaller than that of the heterosexual men, and larger than that of the heterosexual women, though neither difference quite reached statistical significance.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: Byne and colleagues also weighed and counted numbers of neurons in INAH3 tests not carried out by LeVay. The results for INAH3 weight were similar to those for INAH3 size; that is, the INAH3 weight for the heterosexual male brains was significantly larger than for the heterosexual female brains, while the results for the gay male group were between those of the other two groups but not quite significantly different from either. The neuron count also found a male-female difference in INAH3, but found no trend related to sexual orientation.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: LeVay has said that Byne replicated his work, but that he employed a two-tailed statistical analysis, which is typically reserved for when no previous findings had employed the difference. LeVay has said that "given that my study had already reported a INAH3 to be smaller in gay men, a one tailed approach would have been more appropriate, and it would have yielded a significant difference [between heterosexual and homosexual men]".


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: J. Michael Bailey has criticized LeVay's critics—describing the claim that the INAH-3 difference could be attributable to AIDS as "aggravating", since the "INAH-3 did not differ between the brains of straight men who died of AIDS and those who did not have the disease". Bailey has further criticized the second objection that was raised, that being gay might have somehow caused the difference in INAH-3, and not vice-versa, saying "the problem with this idea is that the hypothalamus appears to develop early. Not a single expert I have ever asked about LeVay's study thought it was plausible that sexual behavior caused the INAH-3 differences."


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: The SCN of homosexual males has been demonstrated to be larger (both the volume and the number of neurons are twice as many as in heterosexual males). These areas of the hypothalamus have not yet been explored in homosexual females nor bisexual males nor females. Although the functional implications of such findings still have not been examined in detail, they cast serious doubt over the widely accepted Dörner hypothesis that homosexual males have a "female hypothalamus" and that the key mechanism of differentiating the "male brain from originally female brain" is the epigenetic influence of testosterone during prenatal development.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: A 2010 study by Garcia-Falgueras and Swaab stated that "the fetal brain develops during the intrauterine period in the male direction through a direct action of testosterone on the developing nerve cells, or in the female direction through the absence of this hormone surge. In this way, our gender identity (the conviction of belonging to the male or female gender) and sexual orientation are programmed or organized into our brain structures when we are still in the womb. There is no indication that social environment after birth has an effect on gender identity or sexual orientation."


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: The domestic ram is used as an experimental model to study early programming of the neural mechanisms which underlie homosexuality, developing from the observation that approximately 8% of domestic rams are sexually attracted to other rams (male-oriented) when compared to the majority of rams which are female-oriented. In many species, a prominent feature of sexual differentiation is the presence of a sexually dimorphic nucleus (SDN) in the preoptic hypothalamus, which is larger in males than in females.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: Roselli et al. discovered an ovine SDN (oSDN) in the preoptic hypothalamus that is smaller in male-oriented rams than in female-oriented rams, but similar in size to the oSDN of females. Neurons of the oSDN show aromatase expression which is also smaller in male-oriented rams versus female-oriented rams, suggesting that sexual orientation is neurologically hard-wired and may be influenced by hormones. However, results failed to associate the role of neural aromatase in the sexual differentiation of brain and behavior in the sheep, due to the lack of defeminization of adult sexual partner preference or oSDN volume as a result of aromatase activity in the brain of the fetuses during the critical period. Having said this, it is more likely that oSDN morphology and homosexuality may be programmed through an androgen receptor that does not involve aromatisation. Most of the data suggests that homosexual rams, like female-oriented rams, are masculinized and defeminized with respect to mounting, receptivity, and gonadotrophin secretion, but are not defeminized for sexual partner preferences, also suggesting that such behaviors may be programmed differently. Although the exact function of the oSDN is not fully known, its volume, length, and cell number seem to correlate with sexual orientation, and a dimorphism in its volume and of cells could bias the processing cues involved in partner selection. More research is needed in order to understand the requirements and timing of the development of the oSDN and how prenatal programming effects the expression of mate choice in adulthood.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: Childhood gender nonconformity is a strong predictor of adult sexual orientation that has been consistently replicated in research, and is thought to be strong evidence of a biological difference between heterosexual and non-heterosexuals. A review authored by J. Michael Bailey states: "childhood gender nonconformity comprises the following phenomena among boys: cross-dressing, desiring to have long hair, playing with dolls, disliking competitive sports and rough play, preferring girls as playmates, exhibiting elevated separation anxiety, and desiring to be—or believing that one is—a girl. In girls, gender nonconformity comprises dressing like and playing with boys, showing interest in competitive sports and rough play, lacking interest in conventionally female toys such as dolls and makeup, and desiring to be a boy". This gender nonconformist behavior typically emerges at preschool age, although is often evident as early as age 2. Children are only considered gender nonconforming if they persistently engage in a variety of these behaviors, as opposed to engaging in a behavior on a few times or on occasion. It is also not a one-dimensional trait, but rather has varying degrees.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: Children who grow up to be non-heterosexual were, on average, substantially more gender nonconforming in childhood. This is confirmed in both retrospective studies where homosexuals, bisexuals and heterosexuals are asked about their gender typical behavior in childhood, and in prospective studies, where highly gender nonconforming children are followed from childhood into adulthood to find out their sexual orientation. A review of retrospective studies that measured gender nonconforming traits estimated that 89% of homosexual men exceeded heterosexual males level of gender nonconformity, whereas just 2% of heterosexual men exceeded the homosexual median. For female sexual orientation, the figures were 81% and 12% respectively. A variety of other assessments such as childhood home videos, photos and reports of parents also confirm this finding. Critics of this research see this as confirming stereotypes; however, no study has ever demonstrated that this research has exaggerated childhood gender nonconformity. J. Michael Bailey argues that gay men often deny that they were gender nonconforming in childhood because they may have been bullied or maltreated by peers and parents for it, and because they often do not find femininity attractive in other gay males and thus would not want to acknowledge it in themselves. Additional research in Western cultures and non-Western cultures including Latin America, Asia, Polynesia, and the Middle East supports the validity of childhood gender nonconformity as a predictor of adult non-heterosexuality.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: This research does not mean that all non-heterosexuals were gender nonconforming, but rather indicates that long before sexual attraction is known, non-heterosexuals, on average, are noticeably different from other children. There is little evidence that gender nonconforming children have been encouraged or taught to behave that way; rather, childhood gender nonconformity typically emerges despite conventional socialization. Medical experiments in which infant boys were sex reassigned and reared as girls did not make them feminine nor attracted to males.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: Between the 1960s and 2000, many newborn and infant boys were surgically reassigned as females if they were born with malformed penises, or if they lost their penises in accidents. Many surgeons believed such males would be happier being socially and surgically reassigned female. In all seven published cases that have provided sexual orientation information, the subjects grew up to be attracted to females. Six cases were exclusively attracted to females, with one case 'predominantly' attracted to females. In a review article in the journal "Psychological Science in the Public Interest," six researchers including J. Michael Bailey state this establishes a strong case that male sexual orientation is partly established before birth:


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: They further argue that this raises questions about the significance of the social environment on sexual orientation, stating, "If one cannot reliably make a male human become attracted to other males by cutting off his penis in infancy and rearing him as a girl, then what other psychosocial intervention could plausibly have that effect?" It is further stated that neither cloacal exstrophy (resulting in a malformed penis), nor surgical accidents, are associated with abnormalities of prenatal androgens, thus, the brains of these individuals were male-organized at birth. Six of the seven identified as heterosexual males at follow up, despite being surgically altered and reared as females, with researchers adding: "available evidence indicates that in such instances, parents are deeply committed to raising these children as girls and in as gender-typical a manner as possible." Bailey et al. describe these sex reassignments as 'the near-perfect quasi-experiment' in measuring the impact of 'nature' versus 'nurture' with regards to male homosexuality.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: Daryl Bem, a social psychologist at Cornell University, has theorized that the influence of biological factors on sexual orientation may be mediated by experiences in childhood. A child's temperament predisposes the child to prefer certain activities over others. Because of their temperament, which is influenced by biological variables such as genetic factors, some children will be attracted to activities that are commonly enjoyed by other children of the same gender. Others will prefer activities that are typical of another gender. This will make a gender-conforming child feel different from opposite-gender children, while gender-nonconforming children will feel different from children of their own gender. According to Bem, this feeling of difference will evoke psychological arousal when the child is near members of the gender which it considers as being 'different'. Bem theorizes that this psychological arousal will later be transformed into sexual arousal: children will become sexually attracted to the gender which they see as different ("exotic"). This proposal is known as the "exotic becomes erotic" theory. Wetherell et al. state that Bem "does not intend his model as an absolute prescription for all individuals, but rather as a modal or average explanation."


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: Two critiques of Bem's theory in the journal "Psychological Review" concluded that "studies cited by Bem and additional research show that [the] Exotic Becomes Erotic theory is not supported by scientific evidence." Bem was criticized for relying on a non-random sample of gay men from the 1970s (rather than collecting new data) and for drawing conclusions that appear to contradict the original data. An "examination of the original data showed virtually all respondents were familiar with children of both sexes", and that only 9% of gay men said that "none or only a few" of their friends were male, and most gay men (74%) reported having "an especially close friend of the same sex" during grade school. Further, "71% of gay men reported feeling different from other boys, but so did 38% of heterosexual men. The difference for gay men is larger, but still indicates that feeling different from same-sex peers was common for heterosexual men." Bem also acknowledged that gay men were more likely to have older brothers (the fraternal birth order effect), which appeared to contradict an unfamiliarity with males. Bem cited cross-cultural studies which also "appear to contradict the EBE theory assertion", such as the Sambia tribe in Papua New Guinea, which ritually enforced homosexual acts among teenagers; yet once these boys reached adulthood, only a small proportion of men continued to engage in homosexual behaviour - similar to levels observed in the United States. Additionally, Bem's model could be interpreted as implying that if one could change a child's behavior, one could change their sexual orientation, but most psychologists doubt this would be possible.


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: Neuroscientist Simon LeVay said that while Bem's theory was arranged in a "believable temporal order", that it ultimately "lacks empirical support". Social psychologist Justin Lehmiller stated that Bem's theory has received praise "for the way it seamlessly links biological and environmental influences" and that there "is also some support for the model in the sense that childhood gender nonconformity is indeed one of the strongest predictors of adult homosexuality", but that the validity of the model "has been questioned on numerous grounds and scientists have largely rejected it."


title: Biology and sexual orientation

text: Sexual practices that significantly reduce the frequency of heterosexual intercourse also significantly decrease the chances of successful reproduction, and for this reason, they would appear to be maladaptive in an evolutionary context following a simple Darwinian model (competition amongst individuals) of natural selection—on the assumption that homosexuality would reduce this frequency. Several theories have been advanced to explain this contradiction, and new experimental evidence has demonstrated their feasibility.