VIVE LE DIFFERENCE.

The following headline is a candidate for a Friday short take, but for a lack of Cold Spring Shops posts elaborating on its message.

Men and women's brains do work differently, scientists discover for first time.

To borrow a maxim, if we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be research.  "That I might get into trouble claiming sex is binary, while personality is a continuum, and body types require Euclidean n-space to categorize does not mean using the left's cancel mob tactics on the left's court intellectuals in Bloomington or anywhere else."

And now, dear reader, there's evidence on the side of the binary.

The brains of men and women operate differently, scientists have shown for the first time in a breakthrough that shows sex does matter in how people think and behave.

The issue of whether male and female brains are distinct has proven controversial, with some academics arguing it is society – rather than biology – that shapes divergence.

There has never been any definitive proof of difference in activity in the brains of men and women, but Stanford University has shown that it is possible to tell the sexes apart based on activity in “hotspot” areas.

They include the “default mode network”, an area of the brain thought to be the neurological centre for “self”, and is important in introspection and retrieving personal memories.

The limbic system is also implicated, which helps regulate emotion, memory and deals with sexual stimulation, and striatum, which is important in habit forming and rewards.

There is always reason to conduct further reseach.

Dr Vinod Menon, prof of psychiatry and behavioural sciences at Stanford, said: “This is a very strong piece of evidence that sex is a robust determinant of human brain organisation.”‌

“Our findings suggest that differences in brain activity patterns across these key brain regions contribute to sex-specific variations in cognitive functioning.”

However, he added that further research is needed to fully understand the implications of the findings.

‌It is well known that male and female chromosomes release sex-specific hormones in the brain, particularly in early development, puberty and during ageing.‌

In particular, might the stereotypically male or female brain functions be evolutionary adaptations?

Women tend to be better at reading comprehension and writing ability on average, and have good long term memory.

Conversely, men seem to have stronger visual and spatial awareness and better working memory.

‌Yet scientists have struggled to spot these differences in neural activity, with brain structures looking the same in men and women.‌

Selection, respectively, for gathering and nurturing, or for hunting and defending? You decide.

Dr Gina Rippon, emeritus professor of cognitive neuroimaging at the Aston Brain Centre, and author of The Gendered Brain, has argued that society is to blame for brain differences in men and women.

‌Commenting on the study, she said: “The really intriguing issue is that those areas of the brain which are most reliably distinguishing the sexes are key parts of the social brain.

‌“The key issue is whether these differences are a product of sex-specific, biological influences, or of brain-changing gendered experiences. Or both. Are we really looking at sex differences? Or gender differences?

‌“Or, acknowledging that almost all brain–shaping factors are dynamically entangled products of both sex and gender influences, are we looking at what should be called sex/gender differences?”

Personality is a continuum. The sifting and winnowing goes on.