Females Better Adapted for Survival than Males

"When it comes to keeping brains alive, it seems nature has deemed that females are more valuable then males," the researcher said in a statement yesterday.

I love scientific conformation of facts I already knew. :o)

The scientists its who did the study looked at rat neurons grown on lab dishes. Males are genetically predestined to store protein, not fat. Females are the opposite, much to the dismay of many females. But when it comes to starvation situations, or times of limited food availability, the female survives longer. The brain needs fat, and when the chips are down the boys don't have enough.

The male cells actually started "eating" each other. I'm sure there's not just a moral, but a story in there as well.

If you read through the whole article note some of the comments about ideal diets. People who eat less live longer, a good thing to know not just for those of us who want to live to see our work become classics, but for characters.

I love tidbits like this, and just for myself. Information like this can be adapted into writing. Think of a situation where you have a co-ed group of character starving, maybe they ran out of rations, maybe they're being tortured. You could show the males deteriorating faster, or taking lasting damager from the starvation. It sounds like an excellent way to kill off a family and leave a young female MC (Mom slipped her food and genetics gave her a boost) who then sets out to do great things.

Think about it.