In more than 1,500 animal species, from crickets and sea urchins to bottlenose dolphins and bonobos, scientists have observed sexual encounters between members of the same sex. Some researchers have proposed that this behavior has existed since the dawn of the animal kingdom. But the authors of a new study of thousands of mammalian species […]
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Even for a Roman Catholic Church rife with esoteric terminology that often defies comprehension by the uninitiated, this month’s Synod on Synodality at the Vatican — essentially a major workshop for church leaders and lay people on how to work together for the good of the church — has proved mystifyingly meta for many of […]
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When I was interviewing Senator Dianne Feinstein in 2011 for a book about San Francisco’s tumultuous history from the 1960s to the ’80s, she suddenly began to tear off her microphone and terminate the exchange. My offense? I asked about her decision as mayor of the city to veto a 1982 ordinance that would have […]
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For a big annual conference on anthropology, Kathleen Lowrey, an associate professor at the University of Alberta, put together several panelists around a controversial theme: that their discipline was in the midst of erasing discussions of sex, which they believe is binary — either male or female. Dr. Lowrey invited a slate of speakers and […]
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At a bar in Euljiro, one of Seoul’s up-and-coming hip neighborhoods, two voices intertwined in a duet. One was high-pitched, the other an octave lower. But there was only one singer, a 27-year-old named jiGook. The other voice was a recording made years ago, before he began his transition and hormone therapy deepened his voice. […]
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Americans with H.I.V. are achieving the once unthinkable: a steady march into older age. But beginning around age 50, many people living with the virus face a host of health problems, from heart disease and diabetes to social isolation and cognitive decline. And so the medical research community, which some three decades ago developed lifesaving […]
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