... quoted a specialist in evolutionary psychology as saying it could be because the children of "systemiser" parents appeared to encounter more testosterone in the womb, making their gender more likely to be male.
Now, I suspect a quote has been misunderstood. If anyone says more testosterone in the womb makes you more likely be a boy, you should shout "bollocks", as by the time there is a zygote IN the womb, the sex is determined. That happens at conception. No amount of testosterone will make an X chromosome turn into a Y chromosome.
But scinece-geek pickiness aside, interesting article
That's very interesting, if those statistics are for real I think it's pretty suprising. That testosterone in the womb thing is interesting. Yes of course you're right, the sex is determined according to which sperm is successful in getting into the egg first, so what might the original quote from the scientist have been about? What's the real explanation for the statistics?
The only idea that occurs to me at the moment is - given that "male" and "female" sperm are slightly different (male sperm = live fast, die young; female sperm = slow and steady wins the race; I think that's roughly how it goes) then perhaps a bit more testosterone in the womb helps the male sperm get up to the egg better somehow. Not sure how though.
Richie - LOL! Try not to get a woody next time you see your careers advisor Anyway, you should be thinking about your future career at every opportunity.
