Testosterone kills brain cells

From a 27 September 2006 AP article:

Tests on brain cells in lab dishes showed that while a little of the male hormone is good, too much of it causes cells to self-destruct in a process similar to that seen in brain illnesses such as Alzheimer's.

"Too little testosterone is bad, too much is bad but the right amount is perfect," said Barbara Ehrlich of Yale University in Connecticut, who led the study.

...

Ehrlich's team tried the same thing with the "female" hormone estrogen, just to be fair.

"We were surprised, but it actually looks like estrogen is neuroprotective. If anything, there is less cell death in the presence of estrogen," she said.

Calvin & Hobbes weighs in on this theme

Growing up, Calvin & Hobbes was my favorite comic strip. It still is. And this particular series of panels isn't the inspiration behind this catablog, but for a long time I thought I'd make this my first post if I ever got around to starting this. When I first saw this strip, I laughed inside. I also realized just how pervasive the belief has become that we humans are not so much controlled not by our own will or soul or even chance/fate as we are by our own biochemistry.

What this blog's about...

This cata-blog of articles will focus on how the body's molecules and biochemical pathways influence what it means to be human.