Science News, Spot News, or Both? Managing and Covering Science Protests

ScienceWriters 2011Andy Dworkin

SHEEP STUDY TIES SEXUAL PREFERENCE TO BRAIN

Oregonian, The (Portland, OR) - Tuesday, November 5, 2002

Oregon scientists studying male sheep have discovered that the rams' sexual preference is associated with a structural difference in part of their brain.

The researchers measured a small bundle of nerves in a region of the brain linked to sexuality. They report that rams who mate with females have nerve bundles much larger than rams who prefer male partners. Male-oriented rams had nerve bundles roughly the same size as ewes.

That finding, presented Monday at the Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting in Florida, is the first to show a naturally occurring correlation between sexual preference and a brain structure in research animals, said Charles Roselli, a professor of physiology and pharmacology at Oregon Health & Science University who worked on the study.

Edition: SUNRISESection: LOCAL STORIESPage: B01

No. 97, Oregon State DT Ben Siegert

STUDIES OF RAMS’ ORIENTATIONS ASSIST RANCHERS

Oregonian, The (Portland, OR) - Saturday, March 19, 2005

Yes, there really are homosexual male sheep, and, yes, Oregon researchers study them. Last week's arrest of an Oregon State University football player for stealing a ram involved in a sexual-orientation study brought the university an athletic scandal, a bevy of jokes and many questions about why they have such sheep to start with. As many ranchers know, roughly 5 percent to 8 percent of rams try to mate with other rams instead of with ewes. For at least a decade, Oregon State and Oregon Health & Science University have studied such sheep, looking for biological links to that behavior…

Edition: SUNRISESection: SPORTSPage: C03

OSU, OHSU study of 'male-oriented' rams gains high-profile foe

Oregonian, The (Portland, OR) - Saturday, November 4, 2006

The tale of Oregon's gay sheep experiment just grew stranger. On Thursday, tennis great Martina Navratilova sent letters asking

the presidents of OSU and OHSU to end what she calls "homophobic and cruel experiments."

"Many gays and lesbians," she wrote, "stand to be deeply offended by the social implications of these tests."

For years, researchers at Oregon State University and Oregon Health & Science University searched in relative obscurity for biological differences that might distinguish rams who mount ewes from rams who mount rams…

Edition: SunriseSection: Local NewsPage: D01

SCIENCE TOLD: HANDS OFF GAY SHEEPSunday Times [United Kingdom], Britain News

by Isabel Oakeshott and Chris Gourlay, 31/12/2006Experiments that claim to ‘cure’ homosexual rams spark anger

SCIENTISTS are conducting experiments to change the sexuality of “gay” sheep in a programme that critics fear could pave the way for breeding out homosexuality in humans. The technique being developed by American researchers adjusts the hormonal balance in the brains of homosexual rams so that they are more inclined to mate with ewes. It raises the prospect that pregnant women could one day be offered a treatment to reduce or eliminate the chance that their offspring will be homosexual. Experts say that, in theory, the “straightening” procedure on humans could be as simple as a hormone supplement for mothers-to-be, worn on the skin like an anti-smoking nicotine patch. The research, at Oregon State University in the city of Corvallis and at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, has caused an outcry. Martina Navratilova, the lesbian tennis player who won Wimbledon nine times, and scientists and gay rights campaigners in Britain have called for the project to be abandoned....

http://othersiderainbow.blogspot.com/2007/01/science-told-hands-off-gay-sheep.html

Of Gay Sheep, Modern Science And the Perils of Bad Publicity

New York Times, The (NY) - Thursday, January 25, 2007Author: JOHN SCHWARTZ

Charles Roselli set out to discover what makes some sheep gay. Then the news media and the blogosphere got hold of the story.

Dr. Roselli, a researcher at the Oregon Health and Science University, has searched for the past five years for physiological factors that might explain why about 8 percent of rams seek sex exclusively with other rams instead of ewes. The goal, he says, is to understand the fundamental mechanisms of sexual orientation in sheep. Other researchers might some day build on his findings to seek ways to determine which rams are likeliest to breed, he said.

But since last fall, when People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals started a campaign against the research, it has drawn a torrent of outrage from animal rights activists, gay advocates and ordinary citizens around the world -- all of it based, Dr. Roselli and colleagues say, on a bizarre misinterpretation of what the work is about.

The story of the gay sheep became a textbook example of the distortion and vituperation that can result when science meets the global news cycle.

The news media storm reached its zenith last month, when The Sunday Times in London published an article under the headline "Science Told: Hands Off Gay Sheep."

Sheep study touches off backlashOregonian, The (Portland, OR) - Friday, February 2, 2007

You may think Oregon scientists working in obscurity would like having their research discussed in The London Times, The New York Times and hundreds of papers and blogs worldwide.

Not when you're being called a homophobe and compared to Nazis. Two men studying sheep sexuality say they've been blindsided by a recent

flood of error-filled news stories and hostile Internet communications about their work. Many reports falsely say that they aim to prevent homosexuality in people.

A London Sunday Times story (since retracted) even said pregnant women might one day wear hormone patches to prevent gay infants - an idea Oregon State University researcher Fred Stormshak called, "The most ludicrous thing I've heard of."

Stormshak and lead researcher Charles Roselli, of Oregon Health & Science University, say they simply want to learn more about the basic biology of how sexuality is processed in the brain. But reasonable debates about the importance and ethics of such basic science seem to be drowning in waves of accusations of evil motives and sexual eugenics.

"We've been maligned through the news media worldwide as a consequence of people not taking the time to get the facts straight," said Stormshak. "It weighs heavily on you. You don't like to be in a situation where you're at the forefront of something for all the wrong reasons.”…

Sheep study touches off backlashOregonian, The (Portland, OR) - Friday, February 2, 2007

…Soon PETA began criticizing the study on its Web site. It encouraged people to e-mail OHSU by saying the researchers "are killing homosexual sheep and cutting open their brains" (true) and that " Roselli plans to 'cure' humans of their homosexual tendencies next" (false).

More than 20,000 e-mails poured into OHSU, many hitting President Dr. Joe Robertson Jr., in his first week in office. Some were hostile: "You are a worthless animal killer and you should be shot," read one….

…"I can't stress this point enough: Basic research like ours is not about applications. It is about discovery and building a foundation of knowledge from which to learn more about the way the body and brain work," Roselli said. "The so-called 'debate' about applications was invented by PETA with the express intention of scaring people in the gay and lesbian community and causing our research to come under unwarranted scrutiny."

Edition: SunriseSection: Local NewsPage: A01