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Comment by sshine | Hacker News Reader

Does that mean gendering a baby is more determined by factors on the father's side?

Whats interesting to me is that along with the autosomes (chr1-22) the sperm contributes either an X or Y sex chromosome. The X chromosome is large and carries a lot of important genes. The Y chromosome on the other-hand is much smaller and carries very few functional genes (primarily just SRY).

So If you think about it girls get ~5% more genetic material from their father than boys.

2.5% (but not really, also remember the chromosomes have different sizes).

this is probably why distribution of traits in men has fatter tails than in women.

I couldn't be assed to do the math, not just chromosome size but also number of genes etc, get's tricky to quantify.

Fascinating to think about the variability introduced by having only a single copy of the X chromosome. Lot's of interesting genes in there, MAOA/MAOB (primary neurotransmitter breakdown pathways), AR (androgen receptor), OPN1LW/OPN1MW (red green color blindness), G6PD, etc.

Yes. Sperm cells are haploid. If the sperm that fertilizes the egg has an X chromosome, the baby will be female. If it has a Y chromosome, the baby will be male.

There are rare exceptions for genetic disorders relating to sex development, but generally speaking the above is true.

I never explored this scientifically but I have this hunch that a man with more sisters than brothers will tend to have more daughters than sons

It's a common idea a with some decently strong evidence it's false, https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/18/health/boys-girls-run-in-fami...

ha :) thank you!

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