Gender

Recent articles

A boy and girl run in a field.

Sex bias in autism drops as age at diagnosis rises

The disparity begins to level out after age 10, raising questions about why so many autistic girls go undiagnosed earlier in childhood.

By Helena Kudiabor
13 February 2026 | 4 min read
Overlapping speech bubbles.

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
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
Illustrated collage of women doing scientific tasks: looking at brain slices, pouring a solution into a beaker and looking into a microscope.

How eight initiatives are tackling neuroscience’s gender gap

In honor of today’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science, The Transmitter spoke with some of the women working to bolster their ranks in the field through storytelling podcasts, speaker repositories, social media networks and other community-based advocacy projects.

By Paige Miranda
11 February 2025 | 22 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
Research image highlighting different brain regions.

X marks the spot in search for autism variants

Genetic variants on the X chromosome, including those in the gene DDX53, contribute to autism’s gender imbalance, two new studies suggest.

By Holly Barker
16 January 2025 | 6 min read
Four microphones on a table with speech bubbles above them.

The Transmitter’s favorite podcasts of 2024

Our picks include a deep dive into dopamine, the role of PKMzeta in memory, and studying the stomatogastric ganglion.

By The Transmitter
23 December 2024 | 1 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
Illustrated portrait of Catherine Dulac.

Male and female brains, Proust, and Catherine Dulac

The 2021 Breakthrough Prize winner explains how reading widely shaped her worldview, and discusses the vomeronasal organ.

By Brady Huggett
1 August 2024 | 81 min listen

Explore more from The Transmitter

Illustration of a synapse.

Neuroscience needs single-synapse studies

Studying individual synapses has the potential to help neuroscientists develop new theories, better understand brain disorders and reevaluate 70 years of work on synaptic transmission plasticity.

By Seth Grant
17 February 2026 | 5 min read
Research image visualizing brain region connectivity in autistic girls compared to autistic boys.

New insights on sex bias in autism, and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 16 February.

By Jill Adams
17 February 2026 | 2 min read
Illustration with silhouettes of a human, bat and nonhuman primate.

Neuroscience has a species problem

If our field is serious about building general principles of brain function, cross-species dialogue must become a core organizing principle rather than an afterthought.

By Nanthia Suthana
16 February 2026 | 7 min read

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