What is FA?

Because I've been asked, here follows an answer to "What is FA?"

FA = fluctuating asymmetry = random deviations from perfect bilateral symmetry = my area of research interest

It has been hypothesized that exposure to stressors (temperatures outside the norm, chemicals, salinity, radiation, etc., etc.) during development will cause an organism that is otherwise symmetrical to not be symmetrical. This does not mean six fingers on one hand and five on the other, but rather (for example) that the eye on the right is slightly wider than the eye on the left. The side that is larger can be either the right or left, thus the "random" in the definition above.

The jury is still out on whether this is true or not, and the reason the jury is still out is what led to my "EUREKA!" moment a short time ago -- no one follows the scientific method anymore. No one replicates studies. The journals all want something "fresh" and "new" -- what we scientists refer to as a "sexy" experiment/field study. The problem with this approach is that the results obtained in any given study could have been obtained purely by chance. As a fluke. By pure, dumb luck.

No one really knows if FA is caused by accidents during development because very, very few studies are ever replicated. We scientists are skeptical by nature (or we should be), and we are rarely convinced (or we shouldn't be) of anything based on one study of any given stressor or species.

OK, so maybe that was more than you really wanted to know.