The article ‘Chromosomes aren’t the Only Determiners of a Baby’s Sex’ was written by Kristien Boelaert and posted on a news website, Discover: Science for the Curious on January 18, 2017. The article disputes the long perceived concept that the sex of the baby is solely determined by the chromosomes of the parents; the researchers disagrees with the fact that the sex of a fetus is exclusively determined by the father’s sperm that carries an x- chromosome for girls and a y- chromosome for boys. The researchers try to figure out why more boys are born than girls; if chromosomes were the only determinants then the ration of male to female births would have been 1:1, (Boelaert, 2017).
According to the article, chromosomes are not the only determinants. The author quotes researches that have proven that the underlying physiological factors could be a plausible determining factor of a child’s sex. For instance, she cites a research that proved that physiological conditions of a woman could lead to gender specific fetal loss. The gender specific fetal loss occurs on specific periods of gestation in that; the male fetus is mostly lost during the early and late pregnancy while the female fetus is miscarried during the rest of the pregnancy. In addition to physiological factors, the article cites hormones, blood pressure and diet as other determinants of a baby’s sex (Boelaert, 2017).
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The article captured my attention because it was a groundbreaking discovery. For years, human beings have believed that they have no control over the sex of the child; with this experiments, mother will be able to predestine the sex of their child by simply monitoring their blood pressure, checking their diet and ensuring that their hormones are balanced.
Although I would like to agree with the discovery, I am reluctant to do so because the author did not provide references. It is difficult to believe most news article because they lack references. References do not only provide a platform for further studies but also makes the paper credible. A research paper that lacks both in text citation and references seems like a hearsay that most scientists ignore.
References:
Boelaert, K. (2017). Chromosomes aren’t the Only Determiners of a Baby’s Sex. Discover: science for the curious . Retrieved on January 20, 2016 from www.blogs.discoveermagazine.com/crux/2017/01/18/chromosomes-baby-sex/
