Silly headline but an important finding: “In today’s issue of the journal Nature, a 40-person research team describes in detail the ‘male-specific region’ of the Y, which makes up 95 percent of the stubby chromosome. The portrait they paint is of a Yoda-like entity that has physically shriveled over the eons but nevertheless has found a way to keep its unique powers.

Specifically, the Y chromosome has evolved a way to correct harmful mutations — or preserve and promote useful ones — without the benefit of having a nearly identical partner with which to trade DNA, as all other chromosomes do.

Study of the Y’s newly revealed genetic contents may eventually shed light on such broad mysteries as why male fetuses are more vulnerable and why men generally do not live as long as women. It may also help physicians better understand the cause and diversity of male infertility.” Washington Post