Mastodawn

Checking out the Studies Show podcast, hosted by Rumman Chowdury and Imran Siddiquee. The opening edition talks about the social science challenges of studying gender and particularly practices of gender-neutral parenting;

https://m.soundcloud.com/studiesshow/episode-1-game-of-telephone

This provoked a thought I don't think I'd ever had before (*love* it when that happens!)

(1/?)

#StudiesShow #GenderStudies #RummanChowdury #ImranSiddiquee #SocialScience #podcasts

Episode 1 - Game of Telephone

Play Episode 1 - Game of Telephone by Studies Show on desktop and mobile. Play over 320 million tracks for free on SoundCloud.

SoundCloud

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Strypey 1d ago

I've got friends who'll tell me with a straight face that sex and gender are the same thing, both reducible to biology. So ... when they talk about "boys' toys" and "girls' toys", are they talking about the biological sex of the toys? Curious minds want to know ...

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#gender #GenderReductionism

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Strypey 1d ago

Rumman Chowdury and Imran Siddiquee also talked about the trope that men having bigger brains on average than women has implications for relative intelligence. I kept waiting for them to bring up the most basic counterargument, but they didn't.

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#BrainSize #intelligence

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Strypey 1d ago

"The human brain weighs about ... 1.4 kilograms ... "

https://www.livescience.com/29365-human-brain.html

You know who else has bigger brains than women, *or* men?

"Elephant adult brain averages 4783 g ..."

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresbull.2006.03.016

About 4.8kg.

"At .. 8kg ... on average, the sperm whale ... has the largest brain ..."

https://www.livescience.com/largest-brain-body-size

So if brain size determines who's smarter and ought to be running the world, it's not men, it's elephants and whales.

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Human brain: Facts, functions & anatomy

The human brain is the command center for the human nervous system.

Live Science

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Strypey 1d ago

But of course ...

"... brain size isn't a perfect predictor of animal intelligence. The brain of an African elephant ... [is] three times larger than the human brain. Their large brain size is due in part to their massive cerebellum, used to coordinate the muscle activity in their trunk and ears ..."

https://www.livescience.com/largest-brain-body-size

Maybe the extra brain mass men have compared to women is all for operating the penis?

But seriously folks, intelligence has nothing to do with brain size. Nothing.

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Which animal has the largest brain relative to its body size?

Smaller animals have larger brains relative to their bodies.

Live Science

@strypey 😆

@strypey Now it is time for the Bischoff's Brain Anecdote.

https://zientzia.eus/artikuluak/bischoff-eta-garunaren-pisua/en/

Bischoff and weight of the brain

Elhuyar Zientzia

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Light 1d ago

@strypey
There is also another podcast that used to be called "The Studies Show" that you made me think of: https://www.sciencefictionspod.com/

The Science Fictions Podcast | Tom Chivers | Substack

A weekly podcast about the latest scientific controversies, with Tom Chivers and Stuart Ritchie. Click to read The Science Fictions Podcast, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.