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Articles on Sex chromosomes

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Teaching sex and gender more accurately can counter gender stereotypes and encourage all students to study STEM. Iurii Krasilnikov/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Trans students benefit from gender-inclusive classrooms, research shows – and so do the other students and science itself

‘Don’t Say Gay’ bills claim to use science to justify a binary definition of sex based on certain traits. But the biology of sex and gender is not so simple.
How many X chromosomes you have can affect your health. John M Lund Photography Inc/Digital Vision via Getty Images

The sex of your cells matters when it comes to heart disease

A one-size-fits-all approach may not be best for treating cardiovascular disease. Taking sex chromosomes into account could make for more effective and equitable care.
The male bluehead wrasse defends his group of yellow females, one of whom has to step-up and take charge if he leaves. Kevin Bryant

What we learn from a fish that can change sex in just 10 days

When a male bluehead wrasse is removed from the group he dominates, the largest female changes sex, rapidly transforming ovaries into sperm-producing testes. Molecular research shows how.
Caster Semenya is legally female, was from birth raised as female and identifies as a female. Jon Connell on flickr

Ten ethical flaws in the Caster Semenya decision on intersex in sport

Athlete Caster Semenya will need to take hormone-lowering agents, or have surgery, if she wishes to continue her career in her chosen events. But the decision to ban her is flawed on many grounds.
Chicken or rooster? This bird is both – female on the left (dark feathers), and male on the right (white feathers, with larger comb and physique). Mike Clinton (Roslin Institute)

How birds become male or female, and occasionally both

Birds have some of the most amazing sex differences of any animal. They can control the sex of offspring, and even produce rare half-male, half-females. And their sex genes and chromosomes are quite different from ours.
There’s a difference in the sex chromosomes between various mammals, such as the platypus compared to humans. Flickr/Darren Puttock

Did sex drive mammal evolution? How one species can become two

How new species are created is at the core of the theory of evolution. Mammals may be a good example of how sex chromosome change drove major groups apart.
It’s naive to pretend there are no profound genetic and epigenetic differences between the sexes. Elephant Gun Studios/Flickr

Differences between men and women are more than the sum of their genes

What produces the differences between men and women? Are they trivial or profound? Are they genetic or environmental, or both? And are men really closer genetically to chimpanzees than to women?

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