[Ramm] [Gendered Innovations] Two studies on neuroscience + article on diversity and excellence in science

[Londa Schiebinger]

Some new research of interest:

1. Sex differences in structural organization of motor systems and their dissociable links with repetitive/restricted behaviors in children with autism by Kaustubh Supekar and Vinod Menon http://www.molecularautism.com/content/pdf/s13229-015-0042-z.pdf
Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is diagnosed much less often in females than males. Emerging behavioral accounts suggest that the clinical presentation of autism is different in females and males, yet research examining sex differences in core symptoms of autism in affected children has been limited. Additionally, to date, there have been no systematic attempts to characterize neuroanatomical differences underlying the distinct behavioral profiles observed in girls and boys with ASD. This is in part because extant ASD studies have included a small number of girls.

2. Sex differences in the brain: a whole body perspective by Geert J. de Vries and Nancy G. Forger. http://www.bsd-journal.com/content/6/1/15
Abstract: Most writing on sexual differentiation of the mammalian brain (including our own) considers just two organs: the gonads and the brain. This perspective, which leaves out all other body parts, misleads us in several ways. First, there is accumulating evidence that all organs are sexually differentiated, and that sex differences in peripheral organs affect the brain. We demonstrate this by reviewing examples involving sex differences in muscles, adipose tissue, the liver, immune system, gut, kidneys, bladder, and placenta that affect the nervous system and behavior. The second consequence of ignoring other organs when considering neural sex differences is that we are likely to miss the fact that some brain sex differences develop to compensate for differences in the internal environment (i.e., because male and female brains operate in different bodies, sex differences are required to make output/function more similar in the two sexes). We also consider evidence that sex differences in sensory systems cause male and female brains to perceive different information about the world; the two sexes are also perceived by the world differently and therefore exposed to differences in experience via treatment by others. Although the topic of sex differences in the brain is often seen as much more emotionally charged than studies of sex differences in other organs, the dichotomy is largely false. By putting the brain firmly back in the body, sex differences in the brain are predictable and can be more completely understood

3. Gender-Heterogeneous Working Groups Produce Higher Quality Science by Lesley G. Campbell, Siya Mehtani, Mary E. Dozier,  Janice Rinehart http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0079147
Abstract: Here we present the first empirical evidence to support the hypothesis that a gender-heterogeneous problem-solving team generally produced journal articles perceived to be higher quality by peers than a team comprised of highly-performing individuals of the same gender. Although women were historically underrepresented as principal investigators of working groups, their frequency as PIs at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis is now comparable to the national frequencies in biology and they are now equally qualified, in terms of their impact on the accumulation of ecological knowledge (as measured by the h-index). While women continue to be underrepresented as working group participants, peer-reviewed publications with gender-heterogeneous authorship teams received 34% more citations than publications produced by gender-uniform authorship teams. This suggests that peers citing these publications perceive publications that also happen to have gender-heterogeneous authorship teams as higher quality than publications with gender uniform authorship teams. Promoting diversity not only promotes representation and fairness but may lead to higher quality science.

All best, Londa

Londa Schiebinger
Director, EU/US Gendered Innovations in Science, Health & Medicine, Engineering and Environment Project John L. Hinds Professor of History of Science, Stanford University http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPST/schiebinger.html

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