A mysterious century-old law of genetics may explain the puzzling genetic legacy of our extinct Neanderthal cousins.
Teaching sex and gender more accurately can counter gender stereotypes and encourage all students to study STEM.
Iurii Krasilnikov/iStock via Getty Images Plus
‘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.
DNA of the male-determining Y chromosome has been completely sequenced end-to-end, and it’s just as weird as we expected. Will we finally be able to understand how it works?
The human Y chromosome could disappear over time, putting our species in jeopardy. But some rodents have managed just fine without it – and we now know how.
Chromosomes change over time, whether through the process of aging or exposure to harmful substances in the environment.
Steven Puetzer/The Image Bank
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
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
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)
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.
In skin, muscle, fat and more tissues, genes behave differently in men and women.
from www.shutterstock.com
Like it or not, evidence now shows that men and women differ genetically far more profoundly that we previously recognised. An analysis from the 2017 winner of the Prime Minister’s Prize for Science.
A baby’s sex determines how they will respond to exposures during pregnancy.
from shutterstock.com
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.
The X-chromosome at some point evolved to be different from all other chromosomes.
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?
Visiting Professor in Biomedical Ethics, Murdoch Children's Research Institute; Distinguished Visiting Professor in Law, University of Melbourne; Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics, University of Oxford