[IP] Physics is for girls
Begin forwarded message:
From: Srini RamaKrishnan <cheeni@xxxxxxx>
Date: November 14, 2004 9:17:04 AM EST
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [For IP] Physics is for girls
Indian schools tend to over emphasize natural sciences over social
sciences.
This may finally explain why girls do overwhelmingly better in Indian
high school
examinations than boys.
Srini
<summary>
A survey of the finger lengths of over 100 male and female academics at
the
University of Bath by senior Psychology lecturer Dr Mark Brosnan has
found
that those men teaching hard science like mathematics and physics tend
to
have index fingers as long as their ring fingers, a marker for unusually
high estrogen levels for males.
It also found the reverse: those male academics with longer ring fingers
than index fingers - the usual male pattern - tended not to be in
science
but in social science subjects such as psychology and education.
The study also found that these hormonal levels may make male scientists
less likely to have children.
</summary>
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-10/bis-aft102004.php
Academics find that finger of destiny points their way
Male scientists are good at research because they have the hormone
levels of
women and long index fingers, a new study says.
A survey of academics at the University of Bath has found that male
scientists typically have a level of the hormone estrogen as high as
their
testosterone level.
These hormone levels are more usual in women than men, who normally have
higher levels of testosterone. The study draws on research that suggests
that these unusual hormone levels in many male scientists cause the
right
side of their brains, which governs spatial and analytic skills, to
develop
strongly.
The study, which as been submitted to the British Journal of Psychology,
also found that:
# these hormonal levels may make male scientists less likely to have
children.
# those men with a higher level of estrogen were more likely than
average to
have relatives with dyslexia, which may in part be caused by hormonal
levels.
# women social scientists tended to have higher levels of testosterone,
making their brains closer to those of males in general.
The study drew on work in the last few years which established that the
levels of estrogen and testosterone a person has can be seen in the
relative
length of their index (second) and ring (fourth) fingers. The ratio of
the
lengths is set before birth and remains the same throughout life.
The length of fingers is genetically linked to the sex hormones, and a
person with an index finger shorter than the ring finger will have had
more
testosterone while in the womb, and a person with an index finger longer
than the ring finger will have had more estrogen. The difference in the
lengths can be small - as little as two or three per cent - but
important.
A survey of the finger lengths of over 100 male and female academics at
the
University by senior Psychology lecturer Dr Mark Brosnan has found that
those men teaching hard science like mathematics and physics tend to
have
index fingers as long as their ring fingers, a marker for unusually high
estrogen levels for males.
It also found the reverse: those male academics with longer ring fingers
than index fingers - the usual male pattern - tended not to be in
science
but in social science subjects such as psychology and education.
A further study also suggests that prenatal hormone exposure, and hence
index finger length, can also influence actual achievement levels. In a
survey of male and female students on a JAVA programming course at the
University, the researchers found a link between finger length ratio and
test score. The smaller the difference between index and ring finger -
the
higher the test score at the end of the year.
"The results are a fascinating insight into how testosterone and
estrogen
levels in the womb can affect people's choice of career and how these
levels
can show up in the length of fingers on our hands," said Dr Brosnan.
In the general population, men typically have higher levels of
testosterone
than women, but the male scientists at the University of Bath have lower
testosterone levels than is usual for men - their estrogen and
testosterone
levels tend to match those of women generally.
This research now suggests that lower than average testosterone levels
in
men lead to spatial skills that can give a man the ability to succeed in
science. Other research has in the past also suggested that an unusually
high level of testosterone can do the same thing by encouraging the
development of the right hemisphere.
This right brain development is at the expense of language abilities and
people skills that men with a more usual level of testosterone develop
and
which can help them in social science subjects like psychology or
education.
Dr. Brosnan said that men having levels of testosterone very much higher
than normal for males would also create the right hemisphere dominated
brain, which could help in science. The extremes of low testosterone and
high testosterone for men would create the scientific brain, and the
normal
range in the middle would create the 'social science' brain.
The question also arises as to why more women, who have this lower
level of
testosterone, are not in science, which is male-dominated, with only
one in
40 science professors being a woman.
The short answer is that we don't know: the high levels of estrogen in
women
may act differently on the brain and not give them the spatial skills
that
men with similar levels of the hormone have.
There may be social reasons: science has been male-dominated the past
and
this may be putting women off entering it, even though they are able
to. Why
male scientists should have fewer children is not known.
"The study of my colleagues at the University of Bath was also
interesting
in that it shows that women in social science tend to have a higher
level of
testosterone level relative to their estrogen level, making their brains
closer to those of men in general, said Dr. Brosnan."
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