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posted by martyb on Wednesday February 06 2019, @12:19AM   Printer-friendly

Female Brains Appear to Be More Youthful Than Male Ones, Study Suggests

Scientists have just found a new distinction between the brains of the two sexes: age-related changes to the brain occur more slowly in women than in men. The jury is still out on whether cognitive differences between men and women are created by nature or nurture [open, DOI: 10.1007/s10508-014-0311-5] [DX] - or to what extent they even exist - but we do know that average structural differences between the sexes are a real thing.

This latest research now indicates that female brains, on average, appear to be about three years more youthful than the brains of males of the same age when it comes to brain metabolism. This difference could be why women tend to stay mentally sharp [open, DOI: 10.1136/jnnp.71.1.29] [DX] for longer than men, the researchers said.

"We're just starting to understand how various sex-related factors might affect the trajectory of brain ageing and how that might influence the vulnerability of the brain to neurodegenerative diseases," said neuroscientist Manu Goyal of the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. "Brain metabolism might help us understand some of the differences we see between men and women as they age."

Scientists had already established that age-related grey matter volume decrease occurs more quickly in male brains than female brains [DOI: 10.1007/s11682-015-9468-3] [DX]. It's also been demonstrated [open, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0806883105] [DX] that gene expression in the brain changes more rapidly in ageing men than women, resulting in a reduced ability to build and break down molecules in the male brain.

Also at NPR.

Persistent metabolic youth in the aging female brain (open, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1815917116) (DX)


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  • (Score: 4, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday February 06 2019, @06:37PM (2 children)

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Wednesday February 06 2019, @06:37PM (#797302) Journal

    Have you considered waiting for someone to actually make the statement you're trying to rebut?

    Starting Score:    1  point
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    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   4  
  • (Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Wednesday February 06 2019, @08:36PM (1 child)

    by cubancigar11 (330) on Wednesday February 06 2019, @08:36PM (#797377) Homepage Journal

    https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/06/ocean_city_md_makes_law_bannin.html [lehighvalleylive.com]

    "The "equal protection clause does not demand that things that are different in fact be treated the same in law, nor that a government pretend there are no physiological differences between men and women," the ordinance states.

    Melissa Lee, 25, told the Post that it didn't seem fair.

    "So when you write a law telling all of the men they have to wear bras to cover that up, then you can write a law telling me to wear a bra," she said."

    So,,. I think Melissa Lee did say that there are no physiological differences between men and women, or implied it in her petition.

    There. Now let us accept what it really means in real life to real people when we are told that "gender is a social construct" instead of reading feminist literature as a bible, asking for the preacher to explain what it is really meant. After all, real people are losing their rights over this kind of hogwash.

    • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday February 06 2019, @09:57PM

      by DeathMonkey (1380) on Wednesday February 06 2019, @09:57PM (#797429) Journal

      "So when you write a law telling all of the men they have to wear bras to cover that up, then you can write a law telling me to wear a bra," she said."

      Yeah, the woman who is opposed to a topless ban for women but not men is claiming that boobs don't exist.