2 Jul 2010
http://www.trn1.com/michio-youth-fountain
Michio discusses the fountain of youth, aging, and a connection between population growth and life expectancy.
Starting in the womb, females have advantage over males
By Joe Rojas-Burke The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.
Women are built to last longer than men.
The life expectancy for boys born in the United States -- about 75 years -- is five years less than girls. At nearly every age, males die at higher rates than females, and this vulnerability holds true across the world, from industrialized nations to isolated tribes of hunter-gatherers.
Experts haven't come up with a fully satisfactory explanation. Some chalk it up to macho, risk taking. Men die from suicide and homicide at three to four times the rate of women. They die from cirrhosis of the liver -- usually the result of alcoholism -- at more than twice the rate of women. Men are about 77 percent more likely to die in car accidents than women. Men also outnumber women in dangerous jobs and so account for about 90 percent of on-the-job deaths.
But that isn't the half of it, according to Portland scientists, who have proposed a deeper explanation for the male survival disadvantage.
Read the fulll article here at SunSentinel.com
|
