to think this is basic biology?

[juneybean]

Just caught the back end of Million Pound drop where the question was What determines the gender? The Egg or The Sperm.

The couple in question honestly didn't know the answer and I have just asked a friend and she didn't know either.

I seriously thought it was common knowledge

i couldnt have told you and got double a at gcse and a at a level.

Some things people couldnt give a shit about to hold onto once the need to know it is gone. Doesn't make them thick

Nope, didn't know either. And I come from a medical family! Probably did learn it at GCSE but that was many years ago, reckon I've forgotten loads of other GCSE-learned stuff too.

I was quite shocked tbh, Dp was a bit quiet and he's usually the first to get in there with the answer, so I suspect he didn't know.

Minimischief, you got an A in A-level Biology and didn't know the answer? How long ago?

Remind me once when I was driving somewhere with someone else. We got a little lost and I said well, the suns setting behind us so we must be driving east. The woman looked at me in amazement and said 'I would never have known that'. I was a bit - just assumed everyone knew the sun set in the west!

And agree about the sperm/egg thing. It would have surprised me if an intelligent person wouldn't have known this fact but clearly from this thread it's a misplaced assumption!

Even my 13yo daughter was shouting sperm at the telly. They teach it in schools.

Also, did anyone else catch one of the contestants remark about what kind of voices sperm have . He defo watched that film I can't remember the name of too many times where the sperm have a chat on the way to the egg. (Voice over may have been John Travolta )

Actually the question should be more specific. In tortoises the question would be neither.

The temperature the eggs are incubated at will determine sex - higher temps for lady torts and lower for male torts. But maybe I take these things far too seriously

dream

YANBU

It is indeed basic biology and I'm astonished by the amount of people I've encountered who don't know about it.

Gentleman torts, surely.

Well I think YANBU but am also surprised that a significant number of posters on this thread wouldn't have known the answer either!

I knew all the answers to this thread, I've always been a smartarse smug bastard though.

All questions are easy when you know the answer.

Btw sperm voice film is Look whose talking, JT was in it but the voice was Bruce Willis.

The families with one sex dominating are just statistically likely to happen. Even with 5 children 1 family in every 32 will have all boys, and obviously this is the combination people notice.

I knew that and I barely passed any sort of biology.

I'm an artist, not a scientist.

Given the number of questions on mn regarding a standard menstrual cycle I'd have to go for "thick".

I found this out when I was doing my BSc.

Who says our education's not being dumbed down? ;)

From 3rd year biology to BSc in just a few decades.

Yea, crwp innit? We weren't tort ennuthing in school :(

I thought it was basic biology and therefore common knowledge. However you said in your second post 'I am sat here'. I thought it was also common knowledge that the phrase should read 'I am sitting here'.

Yes it is basic biology. Quite a good question for a game show, imo.

I married into a family that seems to only produce male children. We have DS, DH has all male siblings and cousins who also have male DS's. Last female born in DH's family is now 64 years old! Not sure what the biology is there, or if it's just fluke, but just thought I'd mention it

I wouldn't trust myself to know my own name if I was on tv. My old school teacher was fantastic at general knowledge but made a complete arse of himself on a tv quiz show. Nerves do get the better of people and it is easy to forget things when under pressure.

I was amazed too OP. I thought it was a very easy question and I'm rubbish at Science.

Re the wording of the question- it was 'sex' rather than gender and it did also specify humans.

It's common knowledge. Nothing to do with science (well obviously it is, but ykwim) - it's the kind of information you pick up when you hear about women being punished for not producing male heirs.

They probably cover it in Y5!

I knew thst :) but don't know much lol. Never completed a crossword