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Researchers mapped early brain growth from mid-pregnancy to the first month after birth and found signs that sex-linked differences emerge surprisingly early.
For the first time, scientists at the University of Cambridge have tracked human brain growth across a period that is usually studied in pieces: from mid-pregnancy into the first weeks of life. By linking scans taken before and after birth, the team reports that measurable differences in how male and female brains grow can already be seen by mid-pregnancy.
Scientists have long debated when sex-related differences in the human brain first appear and what biological factors drive them. Many studies look either at fetal development or at newborns and infants, which leaves a blind spot right at the moment when the brain is rapidly reorganizing to support life outside the womb. Without a continuous view, it has been difficult to tell whether sex-related differences appear only after birth, or whether they begin earlier and then continue to widen.
Continued below.
For the first time, scientists at the University of Cambridge have tracked human brain growth across a period that is usually studied in pieces: from mid-pregnancy into the first weeks of life. By linking scans taken before and after birth, the team reports that measurable differences in how male and female brains grow can already be seen by mid-pregnancy.
Scientists have long debated when sex-related differences in the human brain first appear and what biological factors drive them. Many studies look either at fetal development or at newborns and infants, which leaves a blind spot right at the moment when the brain is rapidly reorganizing to support life outside the womb. Without a continuous view, it has been difficult to tell whether sex-related differences appear only after birth, or whether they begin earlier and then continue to widen.
Continued below.
Male and Female Brains Start Developing Differently in the Womb, Scientists Find
Researchers mapped early brain growth from mid-pregnancy to the first month after birth and found signs that sex-linked differences emerge surprisingly early.
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