(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?

(UPI) 9 April 2008:

Researchers wanted to find out whether men and women could judge just from photographs who might be interested in a one night stand.

The results seem to say yes (more than 70 percent of the time, at least) but they are rather odd. Women could tell that men with masculine features, larger jaws for example, were interested in a quickie: but then those features are indications of high testosterone so that is no surprise.

However, men said that “attractive” women were more likely to be so interested and indeed, women judged attractive by others were. But no one is actually sure why. Might it just be as simple as the thought that they get more and better offers? Or that men try harder to achieve them?

(NEW SCIENTIST) 1 April 2008:

Apparently stock traders experience hormone surges when they trade.  Successful trades are associated with increased testosterone, and failed trades with cortisol, according to a small scale research project conducted by Cambridge University in the London Stock Exchange.

Interestingly there is some debate whether this is cause or effect.  Increased levels of testosterone at the beginning of the day usually mean more success during the day.

So, does this mean that trading on the stock exchange is not the logical, rational activity that we are lead to believe?  Well, it looks like it is highly controlled by the emotions arising from the effects of hormones – only this time it’s the men who are reacting.

Next time my husband blames my spending on my hormones, I have a good answer up my sleeve…

(THE ADVOCATE) 26 March 2008:

Thomas Beatie is a normal guy. He and his wife Nancy live in Oregon and are expecting their first child. Except Nancy is not the one carrying the child. Thomas is pregnant.  Thomas is transgender female to male, legally male, and legally married to Nancy. When Thomas had his sex reassignment procedures, he kept his female reproductive organs. Nancy has a hysterectomy and therefore is unable to carry a child for the couple. When the couple decided they wanted a child, Thomas stopped taking his testosterone injections. After four months, his body knew what to do. He was able to get pregnant without the aid of fertility drugs or any additional hormone treatments.  The sperm came from a sperm bank. Many people they’ve encountered are hostile and angry, but they are thrilled that the pregnancy is free from complications and they are expecting a baby girl on July 3.

(INDEPENDENT) 28 January 2008:

It’s well known that men (in general) are better at spatial tasks, women at those requiring empathy or emotional intelligence. Another way of putting this (although it’s an analogy, not a description) is that men work on testosterone, women on estrogen.

In this analogy the testosterone leads to the puffing and showing off to which men are prone, while women work together better when in groups.

Author Fay Weldon says that men get dumber in groups (just look at Iraq) while women become more intelligent in groups (women’s self help groups in Africa).

(NEW YORK TIMES) 8 August 2005:

Males produce more prenatal testosterone than females do, but levels vary even among members of the same sex. Simon Baron Cohen says that “ it may not be your sex per se that determines what kind of brain you have, but your prenatal hormone levels. From there it’s a short leap to the intriguing idea that a male can have a typically female brain (if his testosterone levels are low), while a female can have a typically male brain (if her testosterone levels are high). That notion fits with the evidence that girls born with congenital adrenal hyperplasia, who for genetic reasons produce too much testosterone, are more likely to exhibit ”tomboy” behavior than girls with more ordinary hormone levels.”

According to the “extreme male brain” theory of autism, people with autism exhibit an extreme of the male brain profile. These people have high drive to systemize and a low drive to empathize.

(REUTERS) 12 February 2007

Researchers have discovered the secret of the gym locker: one element of male sweat, androstadienone (a derivative of testosterone), raises the level of cortisol in women when they get a whiff. This in turn leads to greater feelings of well being, a raise in the heart rate, and heightened sexual arousal.

While this news is sort of funny, there are hopes that it can be turned into a medical treatment: there are diseases where sufferers have to take cortisol with harmful side effects. By having them smell the hormone, the body might create its own.

(TIMES OF MALTA) 28 August 2006:

This may come as a surprise, gentlemen, but you used to be a girl.  Yes, it’s true.  Up to the the eighth week in utero, every fetal brain is female…female is nature’s default gender.  A testosterone surge in week eight turns the brain male by killing off cells in the sex and aggression centers.  Yes, you read right.  killing off brain cells to make the male brain.

How does this fork in the road in utero affect us?  Chalk up her chattiness to this phenomenon.  Her communication center is larger.

Of course social conditioning seals the deal.