Stressed? You could have a girl
WOMEN who are stressed before pregnancy are almost twice as likely to have a girl, a study suggests.
Researchers believe a likely explanation is that more male babies are miscarried due to stress.
Scientists don’t fully understand why but say it could be an evolutionary adaptation.
Another possibility is sperm carrying the X chromosome, which determines the child will be a girl, are less affected by problems with cervical mucus caused by stress.
The study, from the University of Granada in Spain, analysed hair samples from 108 pregnant women to detect levels of cortisol – the body’s main stress hormone – going back months.
Dr Maria Isabel Peralta-Ramirez, of UGR, said cortisol concentrations in the hair of mothers who had girls were almost double that of those who had boys.
The findings appear in the Journal of Developmental Origins of Health And Disease.
A PILOT has uncovered the final resting place of the first British bomber to attack the notorious German battleship the Bismarck during the Second World War.
British-based Italian Luca Lazzara has tracked down Fairey Swordfish V4295/5L to its watery grave near his home town in Sicily.
The biplane was among nine Royal Navy aircraft which attacked the Nazi destroyer just days before it was sunk in the North Atlantic. Ryanair flyer
Luca, 38, traced the bomber to its final mission, when it ran out of fuel in the Mediterranean before ditching off the coast near Cefalu.
His five-year investigation – launched after he spotted a photograph of a crashed Swordfish on the beach – also saw him tracking down the pilots’ families.
Luca said: “The 96-year-old brother of one missing airman was still holding out hope that he would see him alive.
“The family said they thought he might have survived and lost his memory and couldn’t find his way home. It’s been very emotional for everyone.”
Pilot Lt George Myles Osborn was one of three who ditched into the sea and among seven British crew who were rescued. Two others died.
Another pilot crashed into the beach on Sicily, where the wreckage was photographed.
Search...pilot Luca Lazzara spent five years investigating the incident after coming across the above photograph