Retired NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his wife, Vanessa are expecting baby #3. Yes, it’s another girl for the Power couple who already have 2 girls.
Research shows that men who were exposed to higher or lower amounts of testosterone in the womb tend to sire more boys or more girls than the average man who was exposed to normal amounts of testosterone.
Testosterone is the male sex hormone that controls masculine chracteristics in men.
Testosterone is secreted by the testicles in men, and to a lesser degree, the ovaries in women.
Women are born with all of our eggs (about 1 to 2 million). Every egg contains the X (female) chromosome.
The male sperm carries either the X or Y chromosome that determines the sex of the developing embryo.
When an egg is fertilized in the womb the combined chromosomes (XX for girls, XY for boys) act as a blueprint that tells the egg (zygote) to develop into a girl or a boy embryo.
After about the eighth week, the embryo, now called a fetus, develops sex organs of a girl or boy. If it’s a boy, the developing testes secretes testosterone. That’s in addition to the testosterone already floating in the womb from the mother’s ovaries.
If it’s a girl, there is no testosterone secreted. So the cells that would have developed into testes fall off.
Some boys are exposed to more levels of testosterone in the womb than others. Those boys will grow up to be more manly, have higher sex drives, and sire more boys than girls.
Studies are ongoing, but researchers have determined that boys who were exposed to lower levels of testosterone in the uterus tend to have feminine features and be more emotional, more empathetic, and less analytical in their thinking.
For instance, boys exposed to lower testosterone levels (such as Steph Curry and Kobe) have weak jawlines, long or pointy chins, larger foreheads and smaller, wider eyes.
Boys exposed to excessive testosterone (such as the manly rapper 50 Cent) have square or strong jawlines, shorter foreheads, prominent brow ridges, larger noses, and sometimes their eyebrows are closer to their eyes.
Congrats to Kobe and Vanessa!
This has been your Medical Minute.
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