This can't help his golf swing (not that he needs much), but it might help with his infidelity problem. An Emory Univ. lab studied two cousin vole species (a type of rodent): prairie vole and meadow vole. The former has monogamous mating practices (very rare in nature), and the latter is promiscuous. Those rodents are nearly identical, but differ in a gene that controls the expression of the vasopressin receptor in the ventral pallidum. In laymen terms, there's a certain molecule that captures neurotransmitter signals in a prominent pleasure/reward center of the brain. It's abundant in the monogamous voles and absent in the promiscuous voles. When the scientists spliced in the monogamous vole's gene into the promiscuous vole's brain, their behavior changed and became monogamous with their current mates. I wonder if the converse would happen if they knocked out the gene in the monogamous voles.
One disclaimer: rodents have a much stronger male sex drive than humans, so observed differences may be more pronounced. So what about in married humans? A more recent study showed that there is a correlation between the number of vasopressin receptors in the ventral pallidum and longevity of their relationship. General interpretation: the gene helps a male derive more pleasure/reward from the "romantic" interactions of monogamy, thereby making him more content with his mate and less likely to be pushed to promiscuity by his sex drive impulses. Other males, maybe like Tiger, could be genetically predisposed to enjoy monogamy less, and therefore pursue more carnal pleasure to compensate. Combine that with maybe an unusually strong libido in those men, and you have a biological recipe for cheating, which would appear to be hereditary as well. Some say that people cheat because they saw their parents cheat when they were young, but maybe it also has to do with the offspring inheriting the parents' "cheating" genes. Of course we'd like to think that we are not slaves to our impulses and nature, but they obviously play a role.
Maybe instead of Buddhism, Tiger needs a gene transplant! Though I'm sure the right combination of healthy habits, mental discipline, and honest communication can overcome these genetic predispositions for promiscuity.
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could this possibly be a new country western song? your cheatin' genes?
and, does this make tiger a rat?let's just say that we are same as the mouse. wouldnt it be a kicker if Tiger had the pleasure/reward gene or molecule thing?
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Don't knock on Tiger. He's fulfilling his destiny of changing society's outlook on human beings. He's showing that us that we as humans have not evolved all that much and that we should just give into our animal instincts. He's even dumb enough to get caught...and he went to Stanford!
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Haha yeah his therapist should order a DNA test to see if he is missing the gene, then it's not his fault right? He can do a country duo with Garth Brooks about his problems!
That shameless Nike commercial of a "repentant" Tiger with the voice-over of his dead father just made me sick though, and Tiger said he loved it. How the hell does Tiger's personal stuff have anything to do with Nike trying to sell more product? I bet some 6-fig marketing a-hole in Beaverton felt really proud of himself after brainstorming this travesty. They are not his publicists, or are they? I thought their commercials depict sweaty jocks smashing each other; what's with this touchy-feely introspective crap? Don't they know that for every gullible consumer who might have been swayed by this ad (swayed to do what, I'd like to know), three more will be turned off or driven to ridicule it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
SNL parody: http://news.gather.com/
Sorry this thread has degenerated into pop culture gossip, but I guess that has a place in our discussion club too!
PS - did you see that someone paid to fly a mocking Tiger banner over Augusta last week? The PGA guys must have convinced the FAA to shut them down over "safety violations".
http://www.foxnews.com/
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