Lesbian Worms -- yeah, you read it right.

Finally some news on the sexual orientation front that doesn't have to do with marriage or killing us all off. Score!

Using genetic manipulation, U.S. scientists altered the brains of nematode worms, causing them to become attracted to wrigglers of the same sex.

While the scientists can't say what this means for sexual orientation in humans, it does raise the possibility that sexual preference is wired in an organism's brain.

Biologist Erik Jorgensen and his research team at the University of Utah took female nematodes with normal reproductive organs and activated genes that determine "maleness," thereby converting female brains to male brains."

So we did that and now the females are attracted to other females," Jorgensen said from Salt Lake City. "That told us that the brain was sufficient for all of the sex-specific behaviours, for sexual attraction."

In other words, co-author Jamie White, a postdoctoral researcher in Jorgensen's lab, said in a statement: "They look like girls, but act and think like boys. The (same-sex behaviour) is part of the nervous system."

Nematodes, or C. elegans, are millimetre-long worms that live in soil and eat bacteria. Many of the same genes found in nematodes are also found in other animals - including people - making them a good model for human research.

To read the rest, click here.

This is a little scary though. I can just see some crazy politician trying to push legislation to have all us gays rewired straight. Plus, it brings up all sorts of questions about what defines gender and what this means for the biology vs. choice debate surrounding homosexuality. Interesting stuff. Well, at least the most interesting worm news I've heard in a while.