Are there differences between the brains of women and men?

In this episode of Your Brain On, we explore the unique aspects of the female brain, and how the male-biased history of medical science has left us with enormous gaps in our knowledge of women’s distinctive neurology.

We discuss:

• The striking uniformity in the structure of the female and male brain
• The possible physiological and sociological reasons why women have a higher risk of developing neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s
• The recent progress that’s been made in making neuroscientific studies more inclusive
• What current research says about Hormone Replacement Therapy, a common treatment for postmenopausal drops in neuroprotective hormones

We’re joined by Dr. Margaret McCarthy, James & Carolyn Frenkil Endowed Dean’s Professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where she is also Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology, renowned for her research into the neuroscience of sex differences, and Dr. Lise Eliot, Professor of Neuroscience at the Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science.