Scientists figure out how our penises evolved
By Arden Dier
·Published November 06, 2014
·Newser
Facebook
62
Twitter
18
Email
Print
Scientists figure out how our penises evolved
This image made available by the journal Nature shows a mouse embryo. (AP Photo/RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, Haruko Obokata)
Most guys probably don't sit around the locker room pondering the finer points of how the male penis evolved, so leave this one to Harvard researchers: The mystery is solved thanks to … lizard limbs.
Yup, Harvard scientists investigating the origin of external genitalia have found a link relating to the development of limbs in a variety of animals. Scientists initially hoped to discover why snakes didn't grow limbs, the Boston Globe reports.
ADVERTISEMENT
But they instead found that embryonic cells—which produce hind limbs in lizards, limb buds in snakes, and "tail-bud" tissue in mammals—form genitalia with a signal from something called a cloaca.
As Discovery reports, cloaca is "tissue that eventually develops into the urinary and gut tracts." When they transplanted a cloaca onto hind limb cells in a chicken embryo, eureka—genital-like buds formed.
"It demonstrates that there is a flexibility with what kind of cells can get recruited during development to form genitalia," the lead author tells the BBC of his research in Nature.
He says the link may help explain why "babies that are born with malformations in their limbs often also have malformations in their genitalia." While snakes and lizards have two penises, "it appears that the way all amniotes, including reptiles, birds, and mammals, build their genitalia is very similar," a researcher says.
The Globe adds that external genitalia developed when animals moved from sea to land, rendering water-borne fertilization obsolete. (Another study finds sex is 385 million years old.)
This article originally appeared on Newser: Here's How Penises Evolved
More From Newser•Man Says He'll Be Eaten Alive by Anaconda
•Giant Snake Has Virgin Birth
•Male Hummingbirds Stab Each Other in the Throat for the Ladies
Will SpaceShipTwo's crash change the face of space tourism?
Play Video
Reaching for the stars: The science behind 'Interstellar'
Play Video
International Space Station crew members return to Earth
Play Video
Will SpaceShipTwo's crash change the face of space tourism?
Play Video
Reaching for the stars: The science behind 'Interstellar'
Play Video
International Space Station crew members return to Earth
Play Video
Oil companies are starting to train their oil rig workers in a virtual world -- literally.
Also on the Web
Powerful Plastic: 7 Cards for People With Excellent Credit (NextAdvisor Daily)
Is there a stroke in your future? Take the test. (Healthgrades)
A State-by-State Breakdown of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (Nissan on The Guardian)
Best Places to Retire To (Bring Your Challenges)
Behind the Sceens: The Making of a Corvette (FastLane by GM)
Bazinga! 'The Big Bang Theory' gets official Lego set (CNET)
More from Fox News
Snopes founder talks about the weirdest true story site has verified (Tech)
10-foot-long yellow jacket nest removed from South Carolina camper (Science)
Army Testing Rapid-Zoom Rifle Scope (U.S.)
Here's where all that Ice Bucket Challenge money is going (Health)
No quarter: New Hampshire city wants ‘Robin Hood’ meter feeders kept away from parking attendants (U.S.)
Dad: Son brushed up against poisonous plant, died (Science)
By Arden Dier
·Published November 06, 2014
·Newser
62
18
Scientists figure out how our penises evolved
This image made available by the journal Nature shows a mouse embryo. (AP Photo/RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, Haruko Obokata)
Most guys probably don't sit around the locker room pondering the finer points of how the male penis evolved, so leave this one to Harvard researchers: The mystery is solved thanks to … lizard limbs.
Yup, Harvard scientists investigating the origin of external genitalia have found a link relating to the development of limbs in a variety of animals. Scientists initially hoped to discover why snakes didn't grow limbs, the Boston Globe reports.
ADVERTISEMENT
But they instead found that embryonic cells—which produce hind limbs in lizards, limb buds in snakes, and "tail-bud" tissue in mammals—form genitalia with a signal from something called a cloaca.
As Discovery reports, cloaca is "tissue that eventually develops into the urinary and gut tracts." When they transplanted a cloaca onto hind limb cells in a chicken embryo, eureka—genital-like buds formed.
"It demonstrates that there is a flexibility with what kind of cells can get recruited during development to form genitalia," the lead author tells the BBC of his research in Nature.
He says the link may help explain why "babies that are born with malformations in their limbs often also have malformations in their genitalia." While snakes and lizards have two penises, "it appears that the way all amniotes, including reptiles, birds, and mammals, build their genitalia is very similar," a researcher says.
The Globe adds that external genitalia developed when animals moved from sea to land, rendering water-borne fertilization obsolete. (Another study finds sex is 385 million years old.)
This article originally appeared on Newser: Here's How Penises Evolved
More From Newser•Man Says He'll Be Eaten Alive by Anaconda
•Giant Snake Has Virgin Birth
•Male Hummingbirds Stab Each Other in the Throat for the Ladies
Will SpaceShipTwo's crash change the face of space tourism?
Play Video
Reaching for the stars: The science behind 'Interstellar'
Play Video
International Space Station crew members return to Earth
Play Video
Will SpaceShipTwo's crash change the face of space tourism?
Play Video
Reaching for the stars: The science behind 'Interstellar'
Play Video
International Space Station crew members return to Earth
Play Video
Oil companies are starting to train their oil rig workers in a virtual world -- literally.
Also on the Web
Powerful Plastic: 7 Cards for People With Excellent Credit (NextAdvisor Daily)
Is there a stroke in your future? Take the test. (Healthgrades)
A State-by-State Breakdown of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (Nissan on The Guardian)
Best Places to Retire To (Bring Your Challenges)
Behind the Sceens: The Making of a Corvette (FastLane by GM)
Bazinga! 'The Big Bang Theory' gets official Lego set (CNET)
More from Fox News
Snopes founder talks about the weirdest true story site has verified (Tech)
10-foot-long yellow jacket nest removed from South Carolina camper (Science)
Army Testing Rapid-Zoom Rifle Scope (U.S.)
Here's where all that Ice Bucket Challenge money is going (Health)
No quarter: New Hampshire city wants ‘Robin Hood’ meter feeders kept away from parking attendants (U.S.)
Dad: Son brushed up against poisonous plant, died (Science)