Sorry girls: looks like men are here to stay

AN article by Jessica Hamzelou in the February edition of New Scientist has some good news for men.

Research carried out in America suggests that ‘Adam’s rib’, the feeble Y chromosome which makes half of the human race male, is not withering away as some scientists feared. Examination of the genetics of a monkey relative seems to show that the little chromosome is much more resilient than was previously thought.

In mammals, including humans, an individual’s sex is determined by the presence or absence of a Y chromosome. Females have two X ones, so called because of their shape. Males have an X and a Y. Irrespective of which chromosome pairing we have, all of us begin life in the womb as females. If, however, a Y is present, a gene on it stimulates the development of testes. These in turn trigger the formation of the other male characteristics.