Sunday, May 16, 2010

Human Sexual Dimorphism in Biology, Neurology, Morphology, Development, and Behavior





Eliyahu N. Kassorla
Evolution
Dr. D. Dunlop
Human Peacocks:
Human Sexual Dimorphism in Biology, Neurology, Morphology, Development, and Behavior




            It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that recombinant genetics creates genetic diversity. The creation and elimination of organisms less adapted to their environment is a process known as natural selection. Sexual selection, a second process, describes the competition within species for access to mates. Most sexually reproducing species have a sex-determining system, and this system codes for different traits. In humans, the sex-determination systems are the sex chromosomes, named “X” and “Y”. Since any human will receive a copy of the X-chromosome from their mother, the Y-chromosome differentially codes for male, and thus sexually dimorphic, traits. Evolution has shaped the key differences between human males and females, and these differences will be examined through a literature review of biological, neurological, morphological, behavioral, and developmental human sexual dimorphism.