1 00:00:01,120 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to you stuff you should know friend House Stuff 2 00:00:04,320 --> 00:00:10,800 Speaker 1: Works dot Com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 3 00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:13,600 Speaker 1: Josh Clark. There's Charles Chuck Bryant, and this is stuff 4 00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:23,479 Speaker 1: you should have grant women's brain, man's brains friend, Yes, yes, 5 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 1: Chuck zombie Chuck? Now that was what was it? Tonto 6 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:32,520 Speaker 1: Frankenstein And yeah, yeah, I know we've talked about this before. 7 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:37,080 Speaker 1: I can never remember, Ponto Frankenstein. Oh man, why are 8 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:43,160 Speaker 1: you doing this to us? There's somebody screaming at their alright, 9 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:48,000 Speaker 1: Conto Frankenstein. Yeah, well's just get on with it. I'll 10 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:53,479 Speaker 1: remember as soon as I look at up Tarzan boom. 11 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:57,120 Speaker 1: That's it. I don't have anything. I just sturb it 12 00:00:57,200 --> 00:00:59,400 Speaker 1: my all your little man's brain with all the great 13 00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:04,319 Speaker 1: matter parted out. Honest, this is a very god this 14 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:08,920 Speaker 1: is gonna be touchy navigating this one. Well, the implications 15 00:01:08,959 --> 00:01:15,120 Speaker 1: are really huge, you know, especially not necessarily the scientific implications, 16 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:19,000 Speaker 1: but the potential policy implications of misguided people who don't 17 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:22,600 Speaker 1: understand what they're hearing. Yeah, but I say this as 18 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:25,119 Speaker 1: our general This is what I gather from this whole 19 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:29,280 Speaker 1: thing is it sounds like men and women's brains are different, 20 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:33,360 Speaker 1: and who cares. Men might be better at some things 21 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:35,360 Speaker 1: and women. Women might be better at some things and 22 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:39,039 Speaker 1: men women might process this faster, men might process this faster. 23 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:42,760 Speaker 1: Who cares. That's why we're all here together to put 24 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:48,200 Speaker 1: these brains together to lead us forward into the future. Like, 25 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:50,360 Speaker 1: don't get all worked up about it. Women are seems 26 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:51,760 Speaker 1: to be better at some things, and men seem to 27 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:54,680 Speaker 1: be better like big well, and some of them supposedly 28 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:58,920 Speaker 1: are like very cliche. Sure, Like men supposedly are better 29 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:03,400 Speaker 1: at orienting objects in space in their mind, and that 30 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:08,160 Speaker 1: means you can read a map be Women are generally 31 00:02:08,200 --> 00:02:11,280 Speaker 1: better at language tests, which probably means that they may 32 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:14,800 Speaker 1: be better at communicating things. Okay, so I really really 33 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:18,800 Speaker 1: feel though we should caveat this with this is a 34 00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:23,480 Speaker 1: look at the state of a pretty nascent field still 35 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:27,640 Speaker 1: comparing the brains of men and women like. It was 36 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:33,560 Speaker 1: only in the nineties that um A Dr. Sandra Whittleston 37 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 1: started comparing more than a hundred normal men's and women's 38 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:40,800 Speaker 1: brains and actually accidentally stumbled upon the fact that they 39 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:45,960 Speaker 1: are different in their their organization the makeup. And since 40 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: then it's been such a touchy subject that there's still 41 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:53,160 Speaker 1: a lot of the field who won't say anything more 42 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:56,400 Speaker 1: than that may be true, but um, there's really no 43 00:02:56,440 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 1: difference or whatever. And there's people that they're starting to 44 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:02,160 Speaker 1: get louder and louder they're saying, no, there are differences. 45 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 1: It's not necessarily an intelligence. It's not necessarily in cognitive ability. 46 00:03:06,639 --> 00:03:08,760 Speaker 1: I will even go one better and say, I'm not 47 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:12,040 Speaker 1: even willing to say that women don't read maps as 48 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:19,560 Speaker 1: well as men, but there are structural and compositional differences 49 00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:22,520 Speaker 1: between men's and women's friends. It's been improven and what 50 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 1: are the implications of that? Yeah, And I say, like, yes, 51 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:28,560 Speaker 1: study this because there are so many benefits you can 52 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:33,639 Speaker 1: garner from learning more specifically about everything. But exactly so, 53 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:35,840 Speaker 1: that's kind of where we're at right now. We're just 54 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:40,080 Speaker 1: reporting on the state of this Nason field and and 55 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:41,760 Speaker 1: a lot of it's not improven, but one thing that 56 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:43,640 Speaker 1: has been shown and we I really feel like we 57 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:46,840 Speaker 1: should kick it off with this. If you if you 58 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:51,880 Speaker 1: look at longitude longitudinal studies, huge studies UM that have 59 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:57,640 Speaker 1: been done over the decades UM, and you compare cognitive 60 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:03,360 Speaker 1: abilities intelligence between boys and girls, the differences are almost 61 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:07,760 Speaker 1: negligible overall. Yeah, I Q score stuff like that. It's 62 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:11,440 Speaker 1: all about the same, right, And Um, there's differences, say 63 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:17,080 Speaker 1: between math skills and um, between boys and girls and 64 00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:19,839 Speaker 1: those we don't even know whether those are culturally bound 65 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:21,960 Speaker 1: or what. But we'll we'll get to that. Let's talk 66 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:24,000 Speaker 1: about how the brain is different, because, like we said, 67 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:27,039 Speaker 1: that has been proven men's brains and women's brains do 68 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:29,640 Speaker 1: differ in some ways. Yeah, and um, like you said, 69 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:32,320 Speaker 1: this is new. For a while, they've known that they're different, 70 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:34,960 Speaker 1: but they used to think it was sort of justin 71 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:39,960 Speaker 1: the hypothalamus where uh, sex drive and food intake are controlled. 72 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:42,760 Speaker 1: And that seems like such a kind of a cop out, 73 00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:45,400 Speaker 1: Like you know, their brains are different because men like 74 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:47,960 Speaker 1: to eat more and have sex more. Well, I mean 75 00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:51,480 Speaker 1: it's not true. The structurally they are different. There are 76 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 1: the super chismatic nucleus is different and that helps regulate 77 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:59,919 Speaker 1: reproductive cycles for katiean rhythm. Um, there's different patterns of 78 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:05,960 Speaker 1: androgen receptors, uh, which are responsible for sexual preferences. Um, 79 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:12,080 Speaker 1: there's there's there's two times more UM like neurons and 80 00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:15,920 Speaker 1: cells in certain areas in the hypothalamus of a man 81 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:18,760 Speaker 1: than a woman. So they are different. But that's what 82 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 1: they thought for a long time, like that was the 83 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:23,520 Speaker 1: only difference in the brain. Yeah, and they've also found 84 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:27,640 Speaker 1: out that taking into consideration weight differences and height differences, 85 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:31,320 Speaker 1: men's brains are probably a little bigger. But that doesn't 86 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:34,960 Speaker 1: equate to intelligent or cogni abilities. It's just one of 87 00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:37,920 Speaker 1: those things. Now, remember the myths of the brain episode 88 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:40,279 Speaker 1: we did. We were saying, like, humans don't have the 89 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:43,880 Speaker 1: biggest brain a whale does, but it's all about ratio 90 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:47,520 Speaker 1: body size. Well, we missed something. It's about the ratio 91 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:51,000 Speaker 1: of neurons to body size more than brain size. I 92 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:53,880 Speaker 1: think someone pointed out who was it. It was some 93 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:58,119 Speaker 1: animal that kind of disproved it was just the size. 94 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:00,760 Speaker 1: I don't remember what the animals, I wonder. Two people 95 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:04,800 Speaker 1: wrote in with that. Okay, so this this actually kind 96 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:07,880 Speaker 1: of raises a very troubling question I did at first. Well, 97 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:10,160 Speaker 1: wait a minute, if a man's brain is bigger than 98 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:12,840 Speaker 1: a woman's, and even if you take into account like 99 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:15,480 Speaker 1: weight and height and all that stuff, it's still larger, 100 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:20,000 Speaker 1: then you know, does that mean that men are smarter 101 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:24,200 Speaker 1: than women or should be? No? Why? Well, because in 102 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:27,640 Speaker 1: two thousand one. They found that certain parts of men's 103 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:30,480 Speaker 1: brains might be larger or smaller, certain parts of women's 104 00:06:30,520 --> 00:06:33,839 Speaker 1: brains are larger or smaller, and that could balance out 105 00:06:34,040 --> 00:06:36,720 Speaker 1: the overall difference in In the end, that's why you're 106 00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:39,080 Speaker 1: not gonna see any kind you know, any differences on 107 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:43,200 Speaker 1: like intelligence levels and stuff like that. So parts of 108 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:48,039 Speaker 1: the frontal lobe um, which is decision making, problem solving, 109 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:51,600 Speaker 1: and the olympic cortex, which is for regulating emotions, are 110 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:55,800 Speaker 1: larger in women, whereas in men the parietal cortex, which 111 00:06:55,880 --> 00:07:00,080 Speaker 1: is space perception in the amygdala, which impacts sexual if 112 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:03,320 Speaker 1: you're in social behavior, were larger. So certain parts of 113 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:05,719 Speaker 1: arge a bigger, parts of the ladies are bigger. Okay, 114 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:09,200 Speaker 1: there's another big difference that they found. Um, men have 115 00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:13,240 Speaker 1: about six and a half times more gray matter, which 116 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:17,920 Speaker 1: is neurons, than women do, but women have about ten 117 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:21,560 Speaker 1: times more white matter, which is the connections between those neurons, 118 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:24,360 Speaker 1: than men do. That's right, and it seems that men 119 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:27,240 Speaker 1: actually think with the gray matter and women think with 120 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:33,360 Speaker 1: the white matter. And uh so, taking a step back 121 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:36,680 Speaker 1: from the outside, it looks like women's brains might be 122 00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:39,680 Speaker 1: more complicated and how it's set up and how they think. 123 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:42,760 Speaker 1: But they may be faster than men, right, they would 124 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:46,480 Speaker 1: work more efficiently. So in this sense, if you're looking 125 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:49,679 Speaker 1: at this gray matter, that's where the neurons, the thinking 126 00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:54,960 Speaker 1: cells are, but there's less communication among them in men 127 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:58,600 Speaker 1: that makes sense, whereas women may have, depending on the 128 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:02,800 Speaker 1: part of the brain, fewer neurons but a more efficient 129 00:08:02,840 --> 00:08:07,240 Speaker 1: communication system. Which is weird because then that would mean 130 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:09,600 Speaker 1: that you could make the case that they would roughly 131 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:12,239 Speaker 1: arrive at the same conclusion at about the same time, 132 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:17,600 Speaker 1: even though there were these two completely different structures. Yeah, 133 00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:19,440 Speaker 1: but they also point out that some women might have 134 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:22,040 Speaker 1: more neurons, as much as twelve percent more neurons. It 135 00:08:22,080 --> 00:08:25,160 Speaker 1: depends and I was surprised, um that that sentence was 136 00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:27,720 Speaker 1: written like that. There. It depends on the region of 137 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:33,640 Speaker 1: the brain that um the I think she's a biologist, physiologist, 138 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:38,920 Speaker 1: Sandra whittleson that McMaster in Ontario, psychologist, psychologist, she's the 139 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:42,480 Speaker 1: brain lady. Um. She found that there are parts of 140 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:46,319 Speaker 1: the cortex in women, um, pretty much across the board 141 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:49,439 Speaker 1: where you're gonna find about twelve percent more neurons packed 142 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:53,160 Speaker 1: in there. So in this region they may have less 143 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:57,199 Speaker 1: gray matter overall, but their neurons are more densely packed. 144 00:08:57,520 --> 00:09:00,400 Speaker 1: But what she found that was interesting was that these 145 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:03,520 Speaker 1: areas where they have more neurons were associated with signals 146 00:09:03,520 --> 00:09:07,360 Speaker 1: coming into and out of the brain, which means that 147 00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:12,600 Speaker 1: women would be more efficient at combining information rather than 148 00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:16,280 Speaker 1: internal calculation. Yeah. That makes sense to me too. When 149 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:18,680 Speaker 1: I hear all these things out loud and think about 150 00:09:18,679 --> 00:09:21,360 Speaker 1: my marriage, I think, yeah, like Emily's like way faster 151 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:24,520 Speaker 1: at processing things in a conversation than I am, and like, 152 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:26,320 Speaker 1: I don't know, it all kind of makes sense to me. See, 153 00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:29,319 Speaker 1: I feel like that that is that this is the 154 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:32,240 Speaker 1: reason why a lot of people are so whoa, whoa, whoa, 155 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:35,880 Speaker 1: Because we're at this point where we, like, just in 156 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:40,920 Speaker 1: the nineties Whittleson discovered more neurons in this one thing 157 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:43,000 Speaker 1: we did. We did. We know so little about the 158 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:46,040 Speaker 1: brain as it stands, let alone the differences between men 159 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:48,960 Speaker 1: and women that it's like, I feel like we need 160 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:52,200 Speaker 1: to amass all of the info we can and then 161 00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:55,280 Speaker 1: start extrapolating, you know what I mean? Yeah, Well, because 162 00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:57,840 Speaker 1: I Emily's way better reading maps than me, and that 163 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:00,319 Speaker 1: has counter to what usually what people might think I 164 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:03,480 Speaker 1: have to worse. It's direction on the planet, like we 165 00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:05,559 Speaker 1: call it the opposite thing. If I say go right, 166 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:08,200 Speaker 1: it's left. And I'll even try and trick myself and 167 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:10,400 Speaker 1: say I think it's right, and I'll say go left 168 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:13,720 Speaker 1: and it's right. So it's I'm a wonder of nature. 169 00:10:14,480 --> 00:10:16,600 Speaker 1: And how bad my sense of direction is. I didn't 170 00:10:16,640 --> 00:10:19,120 Speaker 1: know that, dude. I've been on road trips and gotting 171 00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:21,520 Speaker 1: off the highway to get gas and gotten back on 172 00:10:21,559 --> 00:10:24,080 Speaker 1: and gone right back the way I came from no 173 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:27,200 Speaker 1: way for miles before I realized it. I feel like 174 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:29,240 Speaker 1: I know you a little more. Yeah, I'm really bad 175 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:30,840 Speaker 1: when it comes to that stuff. That means you've got 176 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:33,400 Speaker 1: a lady brain, and I do. And I have to 177 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:35,520 Speaker 1: hold the map like I have to orient the map 178 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:38,400 Speaker 1: to where like pointed in the direction to make sense 179 00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:42,320 Speaker 1: of it. I know you mean, I know what you 180 00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:47,240 Speaker 1: mean about the having to orient the map in that direction. Yeah, 181 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:51,360 Speaker 1: but wow, I had no idea. Oh yeah, I'm awful. Okay, 182 00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:55,160 Speaker 1: so um oh, here's another one. This one. This is 183 00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:59,319 Speaker 1: the most amazing difference to me between a man's brain 184 00:10:59,360 --> 00:11:03,200 Speaker 1: and a woman's brain. Back in I think the nineties, 185 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:06,760 Speaker 1: like right, around the turn of that year. Um, some 186 00:11:06,880 --> 00:11:14,480 Speaker 1: Yale researchers gave a test, I guess, a language skilled 187 00:11:14,559 --> 00:11:18,120 Speaker 1: test of some sort where basically they said, um, here 188 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:21,160 Speaker 1: say say Germany without the muh. It was like a 189 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:29,599 Speaker 1: test of removing phonemes Germany Gurney Journey. Yeah. I was 190 00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:31,760 Speaker 1: just be in stupid. I was having trouble with it 191 00:11:31,880 --> 00:11:35,240 Speaker 1: just now. But they did this though under the at 192 00:11:35,240 --> 00:11:38,800 Speaker 1: the time brand spanking new wonder machine. It was new 193 00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:40,920 Speaker 1: at the time. Yeah, And the weird thing that they 194 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:45,760 Speaker 1: found was that women and men had the same ability. 195 00:11:45,559 --> 00:11:48,840 Speaker 1: They did just as good a job in removing phonemes 196 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:53,040 Speaker 1: from words, but they used different parts of their brain. 197 00:11:53,600 --> 00:11:57,000 Speaker 1: Whereas men used just one small region of one of 198 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:59,600 Speaker 1: the hemispheres I'm not sure which one, the left, women 199 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:04,360 Speaker 1: used regions in both the left and the right to 200 00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:08,160 Speaker 1: do the exact same thing. And the researchers pointed this 201 00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:10,240 Speaker 1: out there, like, okay, we would get this at what 202 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:14,040 Speaker 1: we were testing was something really ancient, like something that 203 00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:18,440 Speaker 1: had to do with reproduction or acquiring food or defense 204 00:12:18,559 --> 00:12:23,040 Speaker 1: or fear, something like that, something really old. But reading. 205 00:12:23,600 --> 00:12:28,120 Speaker 1: Reading is a skill that humans have acquired, probably do 206 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:32,000 Speaker 1: within the last few thousand years. It's brand new, and 207 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:35,040 Speaker 1: men and women have evolved in just that recent in 208 00:12:35,160 --> 00:12:38,240 Speaker 1: time to use their brains differently to do the same thing. 209 00:12:38,520 --> 00:12:43,000 Speaker 1: Why that makes no sense whatsoever. What it suggests is 210 00:12:43,080 --> 00:12:48,640 Speaker 1: that men and women have different brains exactly. It's remarkable. 211 00:12:49,559 --> 00:12:50,920 Speaker 1: You know, you would think they kind of worked in 212 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:54,440 Speaker 1: the same way, but they really don't. Yeah, that's staggering 213 00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:57,920 Speaker 1: to me. Because we're human beings, were the same species. 214 00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:02,880 Speaker 1: We can mate and produced new versions of our species, 215 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:06,160 Speaker 1: you know, like the fact that we have different brains 216 00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:11,200 Speaker 1: just because of the differing sexes, And that's just mind 217 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:14,760 Speaker 1: boggling to me. I have no idea just because of 218 00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:18,080 Speaker 1: different sexes or there's the old nature versus nurture argument. 219 00:13:18,840 --> 00:13:23,000 Speaker 1: So uh, who wrote this was a Connor Molly Edmonds 220 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:26,840 Speaker 1: Molly Edmonds, formerly of Stuff Mom Never Told You. Um. 221 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:29,240 Speaker 1: She points out that even if you're like super super 222 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:31,560 Speaker 1: open minded and I really want to just raise my 223 00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:35,360 Speaker 1: child not you know, as you're boys you have to 224 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:36,800 Speaker 1: play with trucks, or you're a girl you have to 225 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:39,200 Speaker 1: play with dolls, there's still probably gonna be some of 226 00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:42,800 Speaker 1: that that the child absorbs. Even among the most like 227 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:46,679 Speaker 1: gender neutral parents, among us. You rarely like pick up 228 00:13:46,679 --> 00:13:49,120 Speaker 1: a little girl by her left ankle and dangle her 229 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:53,880 Speaker 1: upside down, right exactly. But um, no matter how hard 230 00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:56,320 Speaker 1: you try, society is going to impact and shape a 231 00:13:56,440 --> 00:13:59,520 Speaker 1: child like that in some way. But uh so that 232 00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:01,679 Speaker 1: you know, maybe that plays a part in it. Okay, 233 00:14:01,720 --> 00:14:04,960 Speaker 1: So okay, all right, I'll shoot a hole right into that. 234 00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:09,000 Speaker 1: That doesn't account for the brain changing being different in structure, 235 00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:13,199 Speaker 1: or does it. Well. Sandra Whittleston studied Einstein's brain. We've 236 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:16,680 Speaker 1: done a podcast on Einstein's brain and the fact that 237 00:14:16,679 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 1: it's had in a garage for a number of years 238 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:22,640 Speaker 1: like a jar, but she actually got a piece of 239 00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:24,760 Speaker 1: it like other people have to study it. In Her 240 00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:27,800 Speaker 1: argument is now our brains are structured at birth, because 241 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:31,480 Speaker 1: look at Einstein's brain, it was actually structurally different and 242 00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:34,120 Speaker 1: it had nothing to do with nature at all, I'm sorry, 243 00:14:34,280 --> 00:14:39,040 Speaker 1: nurture at all. It was just shaped in differently in 244 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:41,520 Speaker 1: some ways. And that's, you know, maybe why he was 245 00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:44,240 Speaker 1: so smart, and maybe that's why there aren't Einstein's all 246 00:14:44,240 --> 00:14:46,600 Speaker 1: over the place. And so this is something that we 247 00:14:46,640 --> 00:14:49,240 Speaker 1: get from birth, and it doesn't matter how you're raised, 248 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:51,880 Speaker 1: it's going to be different. But see the jury is 249 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:55,160 Speaker 1: still out on that one. Whittleston, that's her belief. There's 250 00:14:55,240 --> 00:14:57,720 Speaker 1: also another camp that says, well, no, because there's such 251 00:14:57,720 --> 00:15:01,560 Speaker 1: a thing as brain plasticity, and you have neural connections 252 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:05,120 Speaker 1: that are remember the person with UM just one hemisphere, 253 00:15:05,160 --> 00:15:09,760 Speaker 1: but binocular vision um. Your your brain goes through the 254 00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:12,520 Speaker 1: process of pruning, so it gets rid of neural connections. 255 00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:14,720 Speaker 1: And if everybody's telling a little girl that she's not 256 00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:17,200 Speaker 1: good at math because she's a girl, her brain may 257 00:15:17,360 --> 00:15:20,080 Speaker 1: very ruthlessly cut out a lot of those connections and 258 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:24,560 Speaker 1: she may, through this brain's version of a self fulfilling prophecy, 259 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:27,240 Speaker 1: be the last good at math. Well, when that's where 260 00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:30,000 Speaker 1: and the brain structure would still look the same exactly, 261 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:31,840 Speaker 1: that's where nurture comes back in. Like you said, if 262 00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:34,040 Speaker 1: little girls are taught they don't want to do math, 263 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:36,080 Speaker 1: maybe there are more boys in class, and then that 264 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:39,080 Speaker 1: perpetuates it further to where they did one study where 265 00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:42,320 Speaker 1: they found that female students who were math and science 266 00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:45,400 Speaker 1: and engineering majors did not want to sign up for 267 00:15:45,480 --> 00:15:49,720 Speaker 1: these summer conferences in math and science because they were 268 00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:53,160 Speaker 1: shown videos where it was a bunch of corny little 269 00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:55,920 Speaker 1: nerdy boys, right. I was wondering there, like, I don't 270 00:15:56,800 --> 00:15:59,840 Speaker 1: exactly you want to be surrounded by those goons. So 271 00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:02,280 Speaker 1: these are math and science and engineering majors, and they 272 00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:06,000 Speaker 1: didn't want to do that because again, they're just fed 273 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:08,360 Speaker 1: that line that now it's just all boys, and boys 274 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:09,880 Speaker 1: are interested in this kind of thing. And there were 275 00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:13,760 Speaker 1: there's been other studies to that found like UM girls 276 00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:17,240 Speaker 1: who are told that a a math test generally does 277 00:16:17,280 --> 00:16:21,840 Speaker 1: show gender differences score more poorly than ones who weren't 278 00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:24,400 Speaker 1: told that, or if they were told as gender neutral, 279 00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:27,800 Speaker 1: they improve, right, and boys are not immune to this 280 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:30,240 Speaker 1: kind of thing too. Apparently they did a study where 281 00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:33,280 Speaker 1: they told UM white males taking a math test that 282 00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:36,040 Speaker 1: their scores were going to be compared to Asian males, 283 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:39,200 Speaker 1: and they did much more poorly than people like males 284 00:16:39,200 --> 00:16:42,240 Speaker 1: who weren't told that. Right, So again it's that self 285 00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:46,160 Speaker 1: fulfilling prophecy that we can, I guess make happen. So 286 00:16:46,400 --> 00:16:48,440 Speaker 1: we're we're the path that we're going down right now, 287 00:16:48,520 --> 00:16:51,120 Speaker 1: when we're saying, well, no, it's just nurture, it's just society. 288 00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:54,800 Speaker 1: It's just there's a danger to it. It's not necessarily 289 00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:57,840 Speaker 1: wrong but there's a danger of following it too far 290 00:16:57,880 --> 00:17:00,320 Speaker 1: along to where you ignore the fact that they're are 291 00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:05,080 Speaker 1: for whatever reason, real differences, but in the male brain 292 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:09,920 Speaker 1: and the female brain, and is here where some people, Um, 293 00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:12,800 Speaker 1: there's a guy named Cahill. I can't remember his first name, 294 00:17:12,800 --> 00:17:14,520 Speaker 1: but he's that you see, Irvine, He's one of the 295 00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:17,159 Speaker 1: louder people to shout like, no, we need to be 296 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:21,640 Speaker 1: paying attention to the differences to understand how to say 297 00:17:21,720 --> 00:17:25,560 Speaker 1: better treat males and females suffering from the same thing. Yeah, 298 00:17:25,600 --> 00:17:28,600 Speaker 1: like drugs, for instance, I didn't know this. Apparently most 299 00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:33,119 Speaker 1: of the studies they do on on drugs are done 300 00:17:33,119 --> 00:17:36,199 Speaker 1: on males and male animals because they don't want a 301 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:41,440 Speaker 1: skewed result during the minstrual cycle. And so these drugs, 302 00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:43,600 Speaker 1: like they need to study both the female brain and 303 00:17:43,640 --> 00:17:46,879 Speaker 1: the male brain because they could potentially tailor a drug 304 00:17:47,119 --> 00:17:50,760 Speaker 1: toward a female brain to act better and be received 305 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:53,360 Speaker 1: better than they would for just the standard male brain. 306 00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:58,679 Speaker 1: And conversely to UM, like, if you take a like schizophrenia, UM, 307 00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:01,680 Speaker 1: that's different for men, it's different for women. The onsets 308 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:05,520 Speaker 1: usually earlier for men. Men usually have worse symptoms. Women 309 00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:09,520 Speaker 1: usually fare better. With schizophrenia, and um, they think that 310 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:12,760 Speaker 1: it's because women respond better to the drugs prescribed to 311 00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:15,760 Speaker 1: treat schizophrenia than men. That would be because of the 312 00:18:15,800 --> 00:18:18,480 Speaker 1: differences in the brain. And if we understand the male 313 00:18:18,520 --> 00:18:21,720 Speaker 1: brain versus the female brain, we could better tailor schizophrenia 314 00:18:21,800 --> 00:18:24,640 Speaker 1: ments to treat men better and have better outcomes. Yeah. 315 00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:27,960 Speaker 1: Physical therapy is another good example. In the article, Um, 316 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:31,080 Speaker 1: they found that our brains actually work differently, Like when 317 00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:33,840 Speaker 1: we do simple things like reaching for an object, A 318 00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:36,480 Speaker 1: woman's brain tackles that differently than a men's, just in 319 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:38,880 Speaker 1: the same way that I guess we do when we're 320 00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:47,000 Speaker 1: reading Germany Uriney. Yeah, it is journey, so don't stop believing. 321 00:18:47,560 --> 00:18:50,800 Speaker 1: So it physically me reaching for this phone is different 322 00:18:50,920 --> 00:18:52,919 Speaker 1: than when Jerry comes over and reaches for this phone. 323 00:18:53,320 --> 00:18:56,160 Speaker 1: Then if we had we're both punched in the brain, 324 00:18:56,520 --> 00:19:01,320 Speaker 1: we might need different physical therapy. Uh techniques, Well, you 325 00:19:01,359 --> 00:19:04,600 Speaker 1: said it punched in the brain to women, Um, especially 326 00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:09,280 Speaker 1: in frontal lobe injuries, have are devastated by those way 327 00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:13,000 Speaker 1: more than men. They think, because there's more neural activity 328 00:19:13,320 --> 00:19:15,680 Speaker 1: packed into the frontal lobe of women, and that's where 329 00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:17,919 Speaker 1: they do a lot more they're thinking than men do, 330 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:21,480 Speaker 1: and that's evidenced by people who suffered the exact same 331 00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:23,800 Speaker 1: kind of brain injury. But a woman will just be 332 00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:26,920 Speaker 1: zong in. A man will be like, Oh, that kind 333 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:28,800 Speaker 1: of hurt, but I'm going to get back to walking, 334 00:19:29,119 --> 00:19:31,760 Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, so I I mean, I'll go back 335 00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:33,920 Speaker 1: to the beginning. I stand by it. I say everyone 336 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:37,119 Speaker 1: needs to just settle down and and start studying this 337 00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:41,600 Speaker 1: stuff because it could provide huge medical benefits and physical 338 00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:44,640 Speaker 1: therapy benefits and things like that if we just accepted 339 00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:46,320 Speaker 1: the fact that, yeah, our brains are a little different, 340 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:50,960 Speaker 1: and that's just the deal. You know, Yeah, our brains 341 00:19:50,960 --> 00:19:54,800 Speaker 1: are different, but they're also trainable. Like if a girl 342 00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:56,719 Speaker 1: was told that she was bad at math, and she 343 00:19:56,920 --> 00:19:59,280 Speaker 1: decided that she wanted to take a lot of math classes, 344 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:01,840 Speaker 1: I guarantee you she would excel it math. Yeah, and 345 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:04,440 Speaker 1: I could probably train my brain to be more spatially 346 00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:07,239 Speaker 1: oriented as far as maps and direction goes. Do it? 347 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:10,200 Speaker 1: I just I don't care, because now I have GPS 348 00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:15,680 Speaker 1: and Emily right to tell me I'm dumb. Um, let's 349 00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:19,040 Speaker 1: see you got anything else. I don't embraced differences people, 350 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:22,240 Speaker 1: That's what I say. Um, that's very nice, serious nickers, 351 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:25,040 Speaker 1: she's behind that. Uh. If you want to learn more 352 00:20:25,040 --> 00:20:28,200 Speaker 1: about embracing differences, specifically with the male and female brain, 353 00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:30,199 Speaker 1: you can type that into the search bar at how 354 00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:32,600 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com and it will bring up this article. 355 00:20:33,119 --> 00:20:34,880 Speaker 1: Oh and and now it's time for listening to mail 356 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:39,200 Speaker 1: right all right, this is from I'm gonna call this 357 00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:42,520 Speaker 1: uh Stuff you Should Know jingle. Oh yeah, we got 358 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:44,560 Speaker 1: a jingle written for us. I can't wait to start 359 00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:47,080 Speaker 1: using this. Um, hey, pal's I play music for a 360 00:20:47,119 --> 00:20:50,240 Speaker 1: living mostly up in Canada. On a recent tour down 361 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:52,719 Speaker 1: to south By, Southwest and Austin, or keyboard player Alex 362 00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:55,960 Speaker 1: introduced me to the podcast and I had heard that 363 00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:58,879 Speaker 1: word podcast, but I honestly never knew what it was. 364 00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:02,000 Speaker 1: A way to go ale. I then spent the night 365 00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:04,240 Speaker 1: next two nights listening to Stuff you Should Know. Every 366 00:21:04,240 --> 00:21:06,399 Speaker 1: moment that I could really made the drives go by 367 00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:08,199 Speaker 1: a lot faster. And I love that you guys can 368 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:12,240 Speaker 1: make any topic very interesting. UM, I have a lot 369 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:14,359 Speaker 1: of time to kill, so I listened to nearly thirty 370 00:21:14,359 --> 00:21:17,439 Speaker 1: episodes in just over a week. So anyway, guys, one 371 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:19,560 Speaker 1: of the last episodes I was listening to us how 372 00:21:19,560 --> 00:21:22,520 Speaker 1: commercial jingles work. I think Josh mentioned under his breath 373 00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:25,000 Speaker 1: that he wished you guys had a jingle. So when 374 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:27,840 Speaker 1: I got home, I wrote you a jingle. Awesome. I 375 00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:30,800 Speaker 1: tried to combine the familiarity of something like the Cheers 376 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:34,400 Speaker 1: theme song with the immediacy and simplicity of a commercial jingle. 377 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:36,680 Speaker 1: I hope you enjoy it. I'm glad to discover the show, 378 00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:38,639 Speaker 1: and I'll be listening as long as you're talking. And 379 00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:44,040 Speaker 1: this bit of goodness is from Rusty Ah Machia's m 380 00:21:44,040 --> 00:21:48,560 Speaker 1: A t y a sid he pronounced that matches Mighty 381 00:21:49,320 --> 00:21:58,720 Speaker 1: Mas Media's from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, North America, art US. 382 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:02,040 Speaker 1: And so we want to play the little jingle right now, 383 00:22:03,119 --> 00:22:05,280 Speaker 1: and uh, we may try and work this in somehow 384 00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:08,199 Speaker 1: and use this on the show. I think we're absolutely 385 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:11,640 Speaker 1: going to like this thing is goal alright, alrighty everyone, Yeah, 386 00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:24,360 Speaker 1: here it is. Here we go. So that was pretty awesome. 387 00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:26,320 Speaker 1: That's great. We got our own jingle. Yeah, we're gonna 388 00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:39,160 Speaker 1: let's hear it again again. It's great, even if it's 389 00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:41,800 Speaker 1: even better the second time. It is so um, I 390 00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:44,840 Speaker 1: think that we should start using this. Hopefully your listeners 391 00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:48,119 Speaker 1: will hear it pop up and thank you very much, Rusty, 392 00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:51,760 Speaker 1: and thank you Alex for inadvertently getting us our own jingle. Agreed, 393 00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:56,640 Speaker 1: Hey he said some under your breath. Um. If you 394 00:22:57,240 --> 00:23:01,399 Speaker 1: want to send us a song or some been there anything, whatever. 395 00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:03,960 Speaker 1: If you just want to say hi, don't just say hi, 396 00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:06,720 Speaker 1: it's been done. You can tweet to us at s 397 00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:08,960 Speaker 1: Y s K podcast. You can join us on Facebook 398 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:11,919 Speaker 1: dot com, slash and Stuff you Should Know. You can 399 00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:14,800 Speaker 1: send us a good old fashioned email to Stuff Podcasts 400 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:17,040 Speaker 1: at Discovery dot com, and join us on our good 401 00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:19,879 Speaker 1: old fashioned website home of Stuff you Should Know. The 402 00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:23,679 Speaker 1: animated series are blog tons of other great stuff. You 403 00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:32,240 Speaker 1: can find that at Stuff you Should Know dot com. 404 00:23:32,280 --> 00:23:34,680 Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics, is 405 00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:41,560 Speaker 1: it how Stuff Works dot com m