Scientists Find Sex Differences in Brain

-- Harvard University President Lawrence H. Summers created a maelstrom when he suggested recently that innate differences in sex may explain why fewer women succeed in science and math careers.

He has since apologized for any misunderstanding his remarks may have caused. But is there any truth to the idea that men's and women's brains are, in fact, different?

Recent research suggests it may be so.

From the way we record information to how we process language to the size of our brains and different regions of the brain, clear differences have emerged through animal studies and the use of technology such as brain scanning.

And this is just the beginning.

Jill Goldstein, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, argues that social climates have only recently made such research acceptable.

"When I was growing up, to say there were sex differences in the brain, you weren't even supposed to talk about it," said Goldstein. "I think we're living in a time now when we can look at what some of these differences are without saying they are necessarily deterministic."

Disease by Gender

If the differences aren't always deterministic, why bother looking for them? Goldstein explains, besides satisfying a long curiosity about possible biological explanations for male and female behavior, the research can boost our understanding of sex-specific diseases and possible ways to cure them.

Depression, for example, appears to be twice as common in women as in men while women with schizophrenia seem to suffer less cognitive difficulties than men with the condition.

Nearly all neurodevelopmental diseases are either more common in one gender or more severe among one gender, says Nancy Forger of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Other conditions, including arthritis, heart disease, even lung cancer also seem to be influenced by a person's gender.

"Clearly, if we can understand what's different about male and female brains, then we can understand why one sex is more susceptible to a disease," said Forger.