(REUTERS) 2 June 2008:

We know that there are differences between men and women, but it’s only recently that we’ve been finding out quite what they are in detail, as opposed to the old stereotypes.

One difference is that men and women seem to metabolize fructose, a simple sugar, differently. When tested on a high fructose diet men became at risk of both cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes and women did not.

The surprise comes from the fact that the natural source of fructose is fruit, something which we are all told we should eat much more of. And given the high levels which would have been found in pre-historic diets, it’s very odd that there is a sex difference in its effects.

(MensHealth.com) May 30 2008

Most men experience a drop in testosterone levels equal to about 1 percent a year beginning in their 50s. A man in his 70s might have only half the testosterone he had when he was 25. But researchers behind the Massachusetts Male Aging Study — which has been tracking behavioral and physiological traits for 1,709 men born between 1916 and 1945 — noticed something strange. Men born more recently had T levels that were surprisingly low. The 60-year-old in 2003 had about 15 percent less testosterone than the 60-year-old in 1988, according to Thomas G. Travison, Ph.D., lead author of the testosterone study. Sixty was looking like the new 70. Had something happened? Could we be in the middle of some broad biological or environmental change affecting all men simultaneously?

(REUTERS) 29 May 2008:

Forget about sex. Steal DNA instead. Scientists are amazed by tiny organisms that live in fresh water and continue to thrive in spite of not having sex.  How do they manage?  They steal genes from other organisms, according to a recent study.  Scientists found genes from bacteria, fungi, and plants incorporated into the DNA of the bdelloid rotifer. The bdelloid rotifer is a minute creature that stopped having sex 40 million years ago.  They also withstand desiccation and spring back into action after being dried out.

(REUTERS) 23 May 2008:

French researchers revealed the results of a hormone replacement therapy study that suggested menopausal women who take these drugs more than double their risk of developing a life-threatening blood clot. Oddly enough, this may only hold true for pills, not patches. This may be because pills travel through the digestive system and are processed by the liver. David Sturdee, president of the International Menopause Society still characterizes the risk as very low.  “Although this relative risk is raised in hormone users when compared to non-users, the absolute risk is indeed very small as blood clots do not often occur in this age group in healthy women on no treatment,” he said.

(REUTERS) 11 April 2008:

Well, OK, not broken hearts, but damaged ones. It’s long been known that erectile dysfunction in men is a flag, a marker, for possible heart disease. Indeed, this is how Viagra was found, initially as a treatment for certain heart and arterial diseases.

Given that women’s pelvic bloodflows are the same as men’s, the researchers tried to find out whether an unhappiness with sex could also be an indicator of heart or circulatory problems, as with men.

The answer seems to be no: bad news for those pursuing the goal of a female version of Viagra perhaps?

(CNET) 27 March 2008:

It’s always thought that men are the great gadget lovers but it might be that this isn’t actually true.

Looking at the use of Tivos (which allow you to record broadcast TV shows and watch them when you want) it seems that women use them more than men.

The reason is that male TV watching is dominated by sports, something which it is obviously of greater value to watch live. Women’s habits are dominated by half hour and hourly comedies and dramas, something much more amenable to time shifting.

The differences is quite large: for women 56 percent of viewing is time shifted, for men only 42 percent.

(NEWS.COM) 19 March 2008:

Little research is done on the effect of illicit drugs: the powers that be are insistent that the effects must be terrible, thus justifying the illegality. Further, any research has to contend with the fact that people are indulging in a habit which is, after all, illegal.

But such work can be done and a recent study has shown that women are much more sensitive to the effects of Ecstasy than men are: higher highs and more depression on the downside.

This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise: over and above the differences in body weights and blood volumes, women are more sensitive to both alcohol and prescription drugs.

The thinking is that it’s either a difference in the way that they are all three metabolized, or perhaps the way in which estrogen amplifies the effects.

(EARTH TIMES) 14 March 2008:

…and so are short women and tall women.

Researchers in Spain and Holland looked at sexual jealousy: who is most protective of the people they are in a relationship with? The study found that both short and tall women are jealous of medium height women, those that men find most attractive.

Further, that short men, most especially those who were not muscular or were heavy, were jealous of taller and slimmer men: precisely those that women tend to prefer.

It’s amazing what you can find out with science these days, isn’t it? The more difficult you find it to find a sexual partner the more jealous you are of those who find it easy.

If you hook up a group of men and another group of women to an MRI machine and then look at their brains while they play a video game you learn something interesting. The brains light up in a different manner.

Specifically the part linked to reward and addiction reponds a great deal more in men than it does in women, leading researchers to the obvious conclusion.

Men seem to like playing video games more than women do because men like playing video games more than women do. Ain’t science useful?

(SCIENCE DAILY) 13 February 2008:

There’s a clear gender differentiation in the number who suffer from depression: many more women than men do. At various times explanations have ranged from the oppression of the patriarchy to the point that women have to put up with men.

Now researchers have shown that the reason is most likely due to the hormone serotonin, a chemical in the brain. Women have many fewer receptors for this in their brains than men do: there is also a difference in the protein that transports it, meaning that we can not only explain why more women become depressed but also why they can react very differently to treatments, those treatments being based upon the actions of that protein.