Gray Matter and the Sexes: Still a Scientific Gray Area - by Natalie Angier and Kenneth Chang - NYTimes January 24, 2005

I hope scientists researching the differences been the sexes' gray matter take more time digesting their results than Lawrence Summers, President of Harvard University, did before he made his comments about the innate difference between the sexes in a recent speech.

"Researchers who have explored the subject of sex differences from every conceivable angle and organ say that yes, there are a host of discrepancies between men and women...," write Angier and Chang,

"Yet despite the desire for tidy and definitive answers to complex questions, researchers warn that the mere finding of a difference in form does not mean a difference in function or output inevitably follows."

"We can't get anywhere denying that there are neurological and hormonal differences between males and females, because there clearly are," said Virginia Valian, a psychology professor at Hunter College who wrote the 1998 book "Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women." "The trouble we have as scientists is in assessing their significance to real-life performance."

Continue Reading Gray Matter and the Sexes: Still a Scientific Gray Area - by Natalie Angier and Kenneth Chang - NYTimes January 24, 2005

Posted by at January 24, 2005 12:56 PM
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