New research suggests that differences in male and female brains are at least partly innate, rather than due solely to culture

It is unlikely to prove that men are better at map reading or women win at multitasking, but a study has found for the first time that brain differences between the sexes begin in the womb.

The research, described as “heroic” because of its complexity, suggests that some of the divergence in male and female neurology is innate, rather than due solely to culture.

Scientists were able to conduct brain scans of foetuses to look for the changes in the connectivity of a growing brain and how it relates to sex.

The work, involving 118 foetuses in the second half of pregnancy, speaks to an occasionally acrimonious debate in neuroscience about the extent to which the differences seen between the brains of men and women