Sex

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Talking shop: The Transmitter’s top quotes of 2025

Find out what “may be one of the brain’s most underappreciated superpowers” and why it’s so crucial to “talk about our research in our everyday lives.”

By The Transmitter
24 December 2025 | 4 min read
Developing human fetus.

Gene-activity map of developing brain reveals new clues about autism’s sex bias

Boys and girls may be vulnerable to different genetic changes, which could help explain why the condition is more common in boys despite linked variants appearing more often in girls.

By Giorgia Guglielmi
16 October 2025 | 5 min read
A brain made up of digital text.

ABCD Study omits gender-identity data from latest release

The removal counteracts the goals of the longitudinal study by “pretending that some aspects of adolescent brain development don’t exist,” says sex differences researcher Nicola Grissom.

By Calli McMurray
11 July 2025 | 4 min read
Photograph of a cardinal with male-typical red feathers on one side and more drab, female-typical feathers on the other.

What birds can teach us about the ‘biological truth’ of sex

Part of our job as educators is to give students a deeper understanding of the true diversity of sex and gender in the natural world.

By Nicole M. Baran
22 April 2025 | 7 min read
Illustration of a face covered by several black rectangles.

Keep sex as a biological variable: Don’t let NIH upheaval turn back the clock on scientific rigor

Even in the absence of any formal instruction to do so, we should continue to hold our ourselves and our neuroscience colleagues accountable for SABV practices.

By Rebecca Shansky
25 March 2025 | 7 min read
Abstract illustration of a feminine face in structural flux.

Revisiting sex and gender in the brain

To conduct scientifically accurate and socially responsible research, it is useful to think of “sex” as a complex, multifactorial and context-dependent variable.

By Marija Kundakovic
28 January 2025 | 8 min read
Illustration of men’s and women’s faces.

Males and females show different patterns of risk for brain-based conditions. Ignoring these differences does us all a disservice.

Although studying sex differences in the brain is complex, technically awkward and socioculturally loaded, it is absolutely essential.

By Armin Raznahan
9 December 2024 | 8 min read
Human X and Y chromosomes.

Extra Y chromosomes are linked to autism

Data from people with more or fewer than two sex chromosomes could help answer questions around genetic protection and vulnerability.

By Grace Huckins
5 December 2024 | 5 min read
Illustration of children looking at a gigantic set of building blocks, some of which display genetic sequences on their surfaces.

Autism is more heritable in boys than in girls

If boys have greater inherited liability for autism, the female protective effect may not fully explain the sex difference in prevalence.

Illustration of X and Y chromosomes against a psychedelic, checkered pattern.

Accounting for a mosaic of sex differences: Q&A with Nicola Grissom

Breaking the binary view of sex traits can enable researchers to represent the broader complexity of behavior and cognition.

By Olivia Gieger
10 July 2024 | 7 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Portfolio of SCN2A gene variants, and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 9 March.

By Jill Adams
10 March 2026 | 2 min read
Research image of a mouse hippocampus.

Hippocampus builds reputation as ‘general-purpose statistical learning machine’

New cross-species findings may help settle a long-standing debate about whether the hippocampus is required for passive learning.

By Natalia Mesa
10 March 2026 | 5 min read

‘The Fox, the Shrew, and You: How Brains Evolved,’ an excerpt

In his new book, Rogier Mars provides a detailed account of animal and human brain evolution. In this excerpt from Chapter 1, he starts with the sea squirt—and why it needs the brain it eats after its larval stage.

By Rogier Mars
10 March 2026 | 6 min read

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