The Brain in the Family
COSTELLO: A little bit more information about Pope John Paul. As I told you just a few minutes ago, Pope John Paul headed back to the same hospital he was treated at for the flu and that respiratory ailment. Well, the Vatican, A.P., Reuters, they're actually getting their information from the Italian news service, ANSA. They say the Pope has flu-like symptoms again and he suffered a relapse. That's what they're saying. And of course when I get more information, I will pass it along to you. In "Health Headlines" for you this morning, the government is preparing to test a Bird Flu vaccine. Authorities are also stockpiling both vaccine and anti-viral drugs. This comes as health officials warn of a growing threat from a deadly strain of Avian Flu in Asia. In the fight against AIDS, scientists now say they found an important clue as to how HIV mutates to evade the immune system. Researchers say this information could advance the search for new drugs and a vaccine against AIDS. And a warning for those of you on high protein diets, the source of your protein really does matter. Research on 30,000 women has found that women are more likely to die from heart disease. That is if they often substitute red meat for carbohydrates. In contrast, swapping vegetable sources of protein for carbs appears to protect women from heart disease. Shifting now from your heart to your brain. We can all pretty much tell that men think differently from women. And we know who is the superior sex, don't we? But let's take a scientific look at the gender differences of the brain. For that we turn to CNN's Elizabeth Cohen.</s>MICHAEL GURIAN, AUTHOR: I could have put that away.</s>ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They notice it when they make dinner. They notice it when they walk the dog.</s>GURIAN: There are about 100 identified structural differences between the male and the female brain.</s>COHEN: Family therapist Michael Gurian and his wife, Gayle Reid (ph) Gurian, say they notice all the time how differently their brains function. How he tends when they're talking to get right to the point.</s>GURIAN: Your taking in all sorts of stuff, whereas, all I am doing is I am listening for what I think is the key variable and I hone right in on that. And that's really very male/female.</s>COHEN: Gurian, author of the book "What Could He Be Thinking," says when scientists looked inside men's and women's brains, literally with MRIs, they find a biological reason for this difference. Women, in general, have a larger corpus callosum. That's the area of the brain that handles communication between the two hemispheres. So the two sides talk better to each other. That's one theory as to why studies show women tend to multi-task better.</s>GURIAN: Female brain approach: gather a lot of material, gather a lot of information, feel a lot, hear a lot, sense a lot.</s>COHEN: MRIs show men, on the other hand, tend to move information more easily within each hemisphere.</s>GURIAN: Men, because we tend to compartmentalize our communication into a smaller part of the brain, we tend to be better at getting right to the issue.</s>COHEN: MRIs also show men have more activity in mechanical and spatial centers of the brain. So does that mean scientists think men really do have better innate science and math abilities? In a way, yes. Neuropsychiatrist Ruben Gur studies the differences between men's and women's brains.</s>RUBEN GUR, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: Our top performers on spatial tasks were almost all men.</s>COHEN: But scientists say, in other ways, women's brains are superior. Women have more activity in verbal centers, and in general have 15 percent more blood flow to the brain.</s>GURIAN: They're going to be able to do a lot more with 15 percent more blood flow.</s>COHEN: Researchers point out, of course, there are women who do highly complicated math and science and there are men with great verbal skills. It's not black and white. There's a lot of gray matter when you're talking about the human brain. Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.</s>COSTELLO: For more on this or any other health story, head to our Web site. The address, CNN.com/health. And I'm searching for any more bits of information I can about the pope. Pope John Paul has been taken back to the same hospital where he was treated for the flu and that respiratory ailment. According to Reuters and The A.P. and an Italian news service, the Vatican is saying the pope needs more specialist treatment and checks. They say his flu-like symptoms have returned. When we get more information, I'll pass it along. Are you an easy target, a potential victim of identity theft? In the next hour of DAYBREAK, a quiz to see if you're scam bait. Plus, incredible new pictures from a digital camera found on a Thailand beach after the tsunami. All that, plus much more, just ahead on DAYBREAK.