by Ben A. Barres Nature 442, 133-136(13 July 2006) | doi:10.1038/442133a; Published online 12 July 2006

MIT study

Clearly, the references to female and male differences are basedc on "averages" but anyone who's had a basic stats class knows that variance often tells a truer story. I haven't looked up the research (if there is any) but I would love to see how variable those differences are in a representative sample.

At the same time men and women are different. It's just painfully difficult to quantify many of those differences. Thus, leading to ridiculous generalizations and discrimination.

Also, science does not have to be an innately competitive environment. I find great science in discussion and the sharing of ideas as opposed to the debunking of old ideas in favor of new ones. Ideas and science build on each other. Einstein would not likely had understood and written on the theory of relativity if Newton hadn't already told the world about gravity. One could say that Einstein trashed many of the truths expounded by Newton (that gravity was the truth of truths. One could also say that Einstein built upon Newton's work. In this sense, the rat race that is science today is not a requirement of science but instead a requirement of those currently running science. Namely, men.