‘Male brain is wired to take risks’

MEN take more risks due to a difference in brain rhythms, a study has found.

In a three-part experiment, men and women had their brains scanned while doing various tasks.

One involved selecting a number of boxes out of 100, each offering a monetary reward apart from a few that had a “bomb” inside, meaning the participants lost all their money.

Men opened an average of 48 boxes compared with 40 by women.

Brain scans showed that stronger rhythms in the frontal theta part of the brain were responsible for more risk taking.

The Higher School of Economics University in Moscow linked the rhythms to testosterone. The study is in the journal Frontiers of NeuroScience.