Boy or girl? It’s in the father’s genes, says study

London Times

Times Online

Dec. 11th

The idea that some families are programmed to produce son after son, while others will have only daughters, may not be a myth. A man’s tendency to father sons could be influenced by his genes, research suggests.

A study by Corry Gellatly, of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, shows that men who have many brothers are more likely to have sons themselves. One example is Alan Osmond, of the pop-singing brothers, who has eight sons. The research, published in Evolutionary Biology, studied 927 family trees from North America and Europe, which date back to 1600. “The study showed that whether you’re likely to have a boy or a girl is inherited,” Mr Gellatly said.

He suggested that an undiscovered gene could also explain why more boys than usual were born after both world wars. Families with multiple sons would have been more likely to see at least one survive, he said, and those sons would in turn have been more likely to father boys.

Osmond Genealogist Retires after more than 30 Years on Television

Clayton Brough, well-known for his “8-14 day” weather forecasts and one of the nation’s few “broadcast climatologists”, will retire from KTVX-ABC4 by the end of November, after spending more than 30 years on television and presenting thousands of weather forecasts.

Brough, who is 58 years old and survived cancer in 2004, says he recently made the decision to retire from television in an effort to “conserve my energy, preserve my health, and spend more time with my wife, children and grandchildren.”

Brough worked at KUTV-2 from 1978 to 1980. In July 1980, he began working full-time at KTVX-ABC4, and since 1986 he’s been Channel 4’s weekend climatologist and weather forecaster. His more than 28 years of weather broadcasting on one television station places him in a unique crowd--as only a few television anchors, weather forecasters or sportscasters have ever enjoyed such a long run on one television station.

Over the past thirty years, Brough has also worked as a full-time public education teacher, consulted and written extensively on Utah’s weather and climate, served as an adjunct university instructor in geography at Brigham Young University and the University of Utah, and been president of one of the world’s largest ancestral family history organizations. “After many years of working multiple jobs seven days a week, I’m getting older and slower,” Brough said, “and I want to spend more time with my wife and family, and pursue more family history work.” He says, “I will miss my television family, friends and viewers, and I greatly appreciate their years of support and encouragement; but I’m now putting my broadcasting days behind me, and I plan on spending the next several years teaching weather, climate and geography to my secondary and university students.”

Brough’s last day on KTVX-ABC4 will be Sunday evening, November 23, 2008.

Brough is married to a cousin of the Osmond Family, and he and his wife enjoy doing family geneaology together for both sides of their family.

Osmond Genealogy - Are You Related?

Osmond & Davis DNA Genealogy Project

In April 2008, the Osmond & Davis Family Organization (ODFO) began the Osmond & Davis DNA Genealogy Project. The ODFO did so because it was felt that this DNA project could further cement Osmond and Davis family genealogies and provide another research tool for people who wonder if they belong to or are connected to the Osmonds and Davis families of the British Isles and North America. It was also felt that DNA testing could possibly help the ODFO narrow down research requests from different parts of the world by allowing the comparison of DNA's from ODFO members to those of other people requesting ODFO assistance with their research.

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Are You Related to the Osmonds?

The Osmonds are looking for their long-lost relatives. If you'd like to know how you are related to the family, check out the message at Gen-Tree.

Here's the link: Osmonds.GeneTree.com

Or if you'd like to read what others are saying, here's a blog link that quotes Alan:

http://blog.dearmyrtle.com/2008/05/dna-gentree-osmonds.html