Welcome back! This week we debate the ethics of a blood test that can reveal your baby’s sex at just seven weeks of pregnancy. Also: a big new study on how masturbation affects sexual development. Finally, science editor Jeffrey …
gender
Family MattersPediatric Genetics
A Blood Test Determines a Baby’s Sex Earlier than Ever. But at What Cost?
Boy or girl? New research finds that a simple blood test can answer that question for expectant parents at just seven weeks, significantly earlier than results from procedures like ultrasound and with less risk than invasive …
Study: Predicting Whether a Partner Will Cheat Could Be Gender-Specific
A new study published in the Archives of Sexual Health found that when it comes to infidelity, interpersonal factors — things like sexual compatibility and relationship satisfaction — as well as behavioral traits (risk …
The ‘Sissy Boy’ Experiment: Why Gender-Related Cases Call for Scientists’ Humility
Some of the most harrowing cases of psychological and medical malpractice involve attempts to change a child’s gender or sexual identity. Not only have such misguided “therapies” often resulted in patients’ suicides, but they …
Study: Why Some Transgendered People Have Higher Levels of Autistic Traits
Female-to-male transgendered people — known as transmen — have more autistic traits than typical heterosexual men and women, and more than those who wish to switch gender in the opposite direction, according to new research.
Study: Boys, Girls Suffer Different Concussion Symptoms
The next time you see a girl soccer player yawning on the sidelines, don’t just assume she was up late the night before the game. She might have a serious concussion.
Family MattersParenting
Yawn. Working Moms Awake More Than Dads to Care for Kids at Night
Ah, bedtime. For children, it’s an oppressive end to all the day’s fun. For adults, it’s blessed reprieve until … MOMMY!!!
Mansplaining: Stressed Men Feel Your Pain Less, But Women Feel It More
Ever go to your guy for support only to get off-the-mark advice? New research suggests that physical differences in the brain’s response to stress may be to blame. When stressed, men show less activity in brain regions needed to …
The science of eye-catching gazes?
How quickly a straight woman can determine whether that guy across the bar is trying to catch her eye — or just trying to read the ESPN ticker on the TV above her head — may depend on how typically masculine his facial features are, according to new research published in the journal Psychological Science. And, the research from a
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Do men get sicker than women?
A new study from researchers at the University of Cambridge suggests that men’s immune systems are aren’t as strong as women’s—in part because, throughout evolution men’s bodies prioritized procreation over the development of immunity—and that they are more susceptible to illness, and suffer it more severely as a result, the
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Men, women and jealousy
When it comes to jealousy, men and women aren’t always on the same page. Previous studies have shown that, while men are more likely to see red over a partner’s sexual infidelity, women are more upset by emotional cheating. Evolutionary psychologists theorize that the difference is rooted in the sexes’ historical roles—men wanted to
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