Beautiful science

The bugs in our gut affect male and female brains differently, local research has found.

The effect of disturbances in the gut microbiome, as microbes like yeast and bacteria that live there are collectively called, is more profound in male foetuses than female ones. But in adults, such disturbances affect women more than men. This could explain why male infants are more prone to brain development issues and women are more likely to have neurological problems as adults, say researchers of A*Star's Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN).