>>I also said 'plausible' and 'possible', not 'likely' or 'proven'.  I'm 
>>just floating an idea.

> To me, not plausible at all.  I am tempted to raise once again the Chinese 
> practice of foot binding. This does produce smaller feet on the women. It 
> also, however, destroys them. And it is not heritable.

I think I was the one to bring up that analogy originally and I remain 
skeptical also to this day.  However there are persistent reports of the 
phenomenon and I think it is important to remain open-minded enough to test 
the idea.

Inasmuch as this alleged phenomenon has been widely reported and should be 
fairly easy to investigate, requiring only a few colonies and some II 
ability.  I should think it should make a very good project for a grad 
student.

I realize that one study will not settle the matter, since the very people 
who typically cite one obscure, doubtful and unconvincing study -- often 
inaccurately -- as absolute proof to substantiate their questionable claims 
will reject any study that does not verify their beliefs, however such a 
simple study could be replicated in various places with differing strains to 
settle the question once and for all.

This particular claim is not going to go away until someone tackles it 
scientifically. To this point, the purported phenomenon has lacked any 
credible explanation, and has thus been somewhat untouchable.

However, IMO, it is time to test the claims.

allen
---
The problem with keeping an open mind is that people keep trying to shove 
things into it. 

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