A piece of rotting fruit is likely covered in hundreds if not thousands of microscopic roundworms, including C. elegans—a popular experimental model system for studying neurogenetics. With a lifespan of only a few weeks, ...
Ecology
Mar 11, 2024
0
33
Sparks fly when a female nematode meets her mate in a Petri dish. Tracking him by smell, she beelines over and is pregnant within moments of physical contact. But for the hermaphroditic version of these tiny roundworms, it's ...
Evolution
Mar 7, 2024
0
116
Philosopher Thomas Kuhn's influential theory of how scientific knowledge is built introduced the term "paradigm shift" to explain a transformation of a field's ideas and methods. "A Paradigm Shift, or a Paradigm Adjustment? ...
Ecology
May 22, 2023
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3
A gene that dictates which of three sexes a papaya tree will become, before seed germination, could spur a leap in the ultra-nutritious crop's production.
Plants & Animals
Apr 11, 2019
0
11
Diane Shakes shakes her head. A trisexual arrangement is really not so different. Three sexes—male, female and hermaphrodite—are "part of the plan" for many organisms. There's even a word for it: trioecious.
Plants & Animals
Jan 18, 2018
0
508
An organism's lifespan is known to be affected by its sex and diet, but where these two factors overlap biologically is not well understood. Researchers in Japan looked for clues in worms—C. elegans—that have two sexes: ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 26, 2017
0
18
Pristionchus nematodes come in two varieties: Most species consist of typical males and females, but in several species the females have evolved the ability to produce and use their own sperm for reproduction. Scientists ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 29, 2016
0
59
A genetic study of papaya sex chromosomes reveals that the hermaphrodite version of the plant, which is of most use to growers, arose as a result of human selection, most likely by the ancient Maya some 4,000 years ago.
Biotechnology
Mar 17, 2015
0
62
Choosing between two good things can be tough. When animals must decide between feeding and mating, it can get even trickier. In a discovery that might ring true even for some humans, researchers have shown that male brains ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 16, 2014
4
0
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered that males of the laboratory roundworm secrete signaling molecules that significantly shorten the lifespan of the opposite sex.
Plants & Animals
Nov 28, 2013
0
0
In biology, a hermaphrodite is an organism that has reproductive organs normally associated with both male and female sexes.
Many taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrates) do not have separate sexes. In these groups, hermaphroditism is a normal condition, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which both partners can act as the "female" or "male". For example, the great majority of pulmonate snails, opisthobranch snails and slugs are hermaphrodites. Hermaphroditism is also found in some fish species and to a lesser degree in other vertebrates. Most plants are also hermaphrodites.
Historically, the term hermaphrodite has also been used to describe ambiguous genitalia and gonadal mosaicism in individuals of gonochoristic species, especially human beings. The word hermaphrodite entered the English lexicon in the 15th century, derived from the Greek Hermaphroditos a combination of the names of the gods Hermes (male) and Aphrodite (female). Recently, the word "intersex" has come into preferred usage for humans, since the word "hermaphrodite" is considered to be misleading and stigmatizing, and "scientifically specious and clinically problematic."
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