Cambridge researchers have revealed a detailed picture of how the human brain grows from mid-pregnancy through the first weeks after birth and identified that sex differences in brain growth are apparent from mid-pregnancy onwards.
The placenta and the hormones it produces may have played a crucial role in the evolution of the human brain, while also leading to the behavioural traits that have made human societies able to thrive and expand, according to a new hypothesis proposed by researchers from the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford.
Sex differences in brain structure are present from birth, research from the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge has shown.
Scientists have identified a link between exposure to high levels of oestrogen sex hormones in the womb and the likelihood of developing autism. The findings are published today in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.
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