The Actual Reason Men Die First

Because females often outlive males, behavior is often blamed - but there is a decent chance our sex chromosomes might be to blame instead.

LEARN MORE
**************
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:
- Chromosome: a threadlike structure of nucleic acids and protein found in the nucleus of most living cells, carrying genetic information in the form of genes.
- Gene: the basic unit of heredity passed from parent to child.
- Mutation: the changing of the structure of a gene, resulting in a variant form that may be transmitted to subsequent generations, caused by the alteration of single base units in DNA, or the deletion, insertion, or rearrangement of larger sections of genes or chromosomes.
- Recessive allele: a type of allele which will not be manifested in an individual unless both of the individual's copies of that gene have that particular genotype.
- Transposon: a chromosomal segment that can undergo transposition, especially a segment of bacterial DNA that can be translocated as a whole between chromosomal, phage, and plasmid DNA in the absence of a complementary sequence in the host DNA.

SUPPORT MINUTEEARTH
**************************
If you like what we do, you can help us!:
- Share this video with your friends and family
- Leave us a comment (we read them!)

CREDITS
*********
Cameron Duke | Script Writer and Director
Kate Yoshida | Narrator and Director
Sarah Berman | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation
Nathaniel Schroeder | Music

MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC

OUR STAFF
************
Lizah van der Aart • Sarah Berman • Cameron Duke
Arcadi Garcia i Rius • David Goldenberg • Melissa Hayes
Alex Reich • Henry Reich • Peter Reich • Ever Salazar
Leonardo Souza • Kate Yoshida

OUR LINKS
************

REFERENCES
**************

Bronikowski, Anne M., et al. “Sex‐Specific Aging in Animals: Perspective and Future Directions.” Aging Cell, vol. 21, no. 2, 23 Jan. 2022, 10.1111/acel.13542.

Peona, Valentina, et al. “The Avian W Chromosome Is a Refugium for Endogenous Retroviruses with Likely Effects on Female-Biased Mutational Load and Genetic Incompatibilities.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 376, no. 1833, 26 July 2021, p. 20200186, 10.1098/rstb.2020.0186.

Sultanova, Zahida, et al. “The “Unguarded-X” and the Genetic Architecture of Lifespan: Inbreeding Results in a Potentially Maladaptive Sex-Specific Reduction of Female Lifespan In Drosophila Melanogaster.” Evolution, vol. 72, no. 3, 2 Feb. 2018, pp. 540–552, 10.1111/evo.13426.

Sultanova, Zahida. (2022). Personal communication.

Xirocostas, Zoe A., et al. “The Sex with the Reduced Sex Chromosome Dies Earlier: A Comparison across the Tree of Life.” Biology Letters, vol. 16, no. 3, Mar. 2020, p. 20190867, 10.1098/rsbl.2019.0867.

Xirocostas, Zoe A. (2022). Personal communication.

[sayingnigromakesyoutubecry]

I never seen someone so cheerfully telling me "you are living 7 years less"

[vumixe]

the y chromosome isn't small, its above average and i bet it has a great personality

[Ducktility]

Shouldn't men be allowed 7 years early retirement?

[ErrorhIL]

What in the actual fuck was the ending??? "Let's hope you're not male so you life longer" like what???

[BFCNick]

"You should probably hope you aren't a man."

What a way to find out

[avalpsychicguy]

Men: *Have Y chromosome*
Men: "Guess we'll die."

[studleyjb]

Reminds me of a Winston Chuchill quote . Someone said if she was married to him she'd poison him. He responded, if you were my wife, I'd drink it"

[TheFangirlOtaku]

What's the point of living longer when all my pets die before me?

[capfer]

I never knew that other species had reversed gender for short chromosomes. Really interesting.

[kurolegsanji]

I love how at the end they pretty much tell you that you better hope to not be a guy to find out exactly why males tend to die first.

[insertnamehere]

I don't care, being a man is awesome

[aerodynamicist]

My grandpa died at 2011, at the age of 82

My grandma died at 2018, at the age of 82.

Men do die 7 years earlier than women

[Shefetoful]

me with a small chromosome listening to the ending joke: I'm glad my 7 years shorter life on average amuses you so much.

[normanhines]

It takes women longer to get ready to go.

[frostknight]

"You should probably hope you don't have a small chromosome."

This is so sexist and not funny smh. If the narrator was a male making a similar joke towards females, this video would've been removed by YouTube. 🤦🏻

[diamondjub]

are there any species without chromosome size differences? and if so, do they still have gendered death ratios?

[lostprophet]

PSA: For anyone wondering about the "length is important for men" jokes – the original title of this video read "Size Matters". :D

[tamale]

I hope this isn’t true for me and my husband. It really scares me so much. I just can’t imagine life without him.

[Icetea-]

Wtf is that ending? "Just hope you aren’t a man"
Don’t you have men on your team? Did they not voice at least some objection to that??

[werothegreat]

One thing that I think should been made more clear is that this is a statistical phenomenon, sort of like how in the 1700's the average lifespan was 40... after you consider the high infant mortality. People who actually made it to adulthood would regularly live to 80 or more, they didn't just drop dead at 40. Similarly, having a Y chromosome might put you at higher risk of detrimental disorders, but if you *don't* have them, you'll likely live as long as your XX counterparts.