Single Gene Controls Dog Size, but Journalistic Variation Still Unexplained

A single gene appears responsible for variation in size among dogs, which are more divergently shaped than any other species. The gene, IGF1, is also present in humans, and an understanding of its canine roles will likely provide insight into in our own physiology.

The research published today in Science, has already received a lot of coverage, partly because it's an important study and partly because science journalists, like other journalists, tend to follow the same stories. In light of this, I'd like to usher in the first Wired Science Battle of the Ledes, which have a canine-style diversity all their own.

Third place goes to Randolph Schmid of the Associated Press:

From the towering Great Dane to the feisty little Chihuahua, all dogs are brothers under the skin. Now, researchers have uncovered a reason why the animals wearing that skin vary so much in size.

Nice line, that "brothers under the skin." Coming in second is DailyIndia.com, which uses a slang term for scientists that I'd never heard but plan to use often:

Boffins have now singled out a gene that is responsible for the difference in the size of a Great Dane and a Chihuahua.

And Best in Show goes to the New York Times:

If it weren’t for the IGF-1 suppressor gene, Paris Hilton’s life would be a lot less elegant.

She’d be lugging around an Irish wolfhound in her purse.