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Science is losing out because of the mistaken belief that "men are from Mars and women from Venus", a leading neuroscientist has claimed. Professor Gina Rippon said it was time to debunk the myth that gender differences are hard-wired into our brains. In reality, there was no significant difference between the brains of a girl and boy in terms of their structure and function, she stressed. But experiences and even attitudes could change the "plastic" brain on a physical level, causing its wiring to alter. It was this that led girls and boys from an early age to head in different directions, said Prof Rippon, from Aston University. While girls tended to gravitate towards fields of communication, people skills and the arts, boys were more likely to become scientists and engineers. Even when girls went into science, they mostly chose careers at the "softer" end of the subject, such as biology, psychology and sociology, rather than physics and maths. Speaking ahead of this year's British Science Festival, taking place at the University of Birmingham next week, Prof Rippon said: "We're stuck in the 19th century model of the 'vacuum packed' brain, the idea that we're born with a brain that gives us certain skills and behaviours. "The brain doesn't develop in a vacuum. "What we now know is that the brain is much more affected by stereotypes in the environment and attitudes in the environment, and that doesn't just change behaviour, it changes the brain." | 
