Fundamental Programming

While browsing through some BBC News items for the previous post on the Purpose of Hormones, I came across the fascinating work of one Dr Nick Neave, of Northumbria University.

Dr Nick, who writes popular articles in the Daily Mail, and is regularly consulted by the science journalists on the BBC News website, believes that women are fundamentally programmed to depend on men. (Footnote for geeks: can anyone tell me the difference between fundamental programming and any other kind of programming? No, I thought not.)

• "Sorry, but women are dependent on men." [Daily Mail, 4th December 2006]

Dr Nick studies gender differences. His serious research indicates that women are better at finding things, but he is happy to say something quite different when a journalist prompts him for a stereotype about women drivers.

• Some evidence of a female advantage in object location memory using ecologically valid stimuli [Human Nature Vol 16 No 2, June 2005]

• Spatial skills such as map reading and parking may be difficult for some women because they had too little testosterone in the womb. [BBC News 24 January 2005 via BastardLogic]
  

Dr Nick has also studied sexual attraction

• "Females, like males, are always looking to enhance their reproductive success by trading upwards." [BBC News, 16 August 2005]

• "A male face with some attributes of both masculinity and femininity is attractive. ... Women kind of like your macho-but-sensitive type." [Times Online, 20 August 2003]
  

Dr Nick, who is an expert on testosterone, suffers from male pattern baldness. Wikipedia reveals that this form of hair loss is related to hormones called androgens, particularly an androgen called dihydrotestosterone (DHT).


Dr Nick Neave, Northumbria University