Editor's Note:
This is the third article in a series on sex-based differences in the biology of males and females. Future articles in the series will cover sex-based differences in autoimmunity, drug metabolism, and life expectancy.
While responses to "What's the difference between men and women?" might evoke answers about reproductive plumbing and hormones, researchers are unearthing some subtle, genomic reasons for the differences. So far, the linchpins to finding these genomic variations seem to involve X-chromosome inactivation, Y chromosome genetics, and genetic imprinting.

Lisa Damiani

Sherry Marts, scientific director for the Society for Women's Health Research, thinks these areas will be focal points. "We're looking at this as the start of a new field of research," she says. "In another 10 years [sex-based differences] is going to be like neuroscience, where it started out as a few physiologists and a few biochemists, and pretty soon you've got...

Interested in reading more?

Magaizne Cover

Become a Member of

Receive full access to digital editions of The Scientist, as well as TS Digest, feature stories, more than 35 years of archives, and much more!