He-Brains and She-Brains

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/news/page/0,12983,937443,00.html

These excellent Web sites provide a variety of online multimedia activities related to neurobiology. Check out the virtual tour of the nervous system. Tour a gallery of photographs of nerve cells. Compare the brains of different animal species. Travel through time and review the history of brain science. Learn about and take a test to see how the empathizer-systemizer (E-S) theory applies to you. To get started, prepare answers to the following questions:

1. What differences in the brains of women and men have been found in research studies using MRI and NMR? Are differences in people's cognitive abilities (for example, memory) related more to individual differences or to whether they are male or female?

2. Is it true that people only use 10 percent of their total brain capacity? How did this fact (or falsehood) originate?

3. September 13, 1998, was the anniversary of what important event in the history of brain science?

4. What ever became of Albert Einstein's brain? Did Einstein's brain differ physically from the average human brain?

5. Throughout history, people have compared the brain to different inventions, such as the telephone. What is the current metaphor for the brain? In what ways does this metaphor hold up? In what ways does it fail? (Hint: State the similarities and differences between the brain and this invention.)