Last week another academic, Tony Sewell, complained that lessons had become too "feminised" and called for more nurturing of traditional "male" traits, such as competitiveness and leadership.

BBC: Children know a good teacher when they see one

The survey of the wild animals, published in the journal Nature, builds on laboratory work which also suggests that male frogs can be feminised through exposure to the weedkiller.

BBC: Weedkiller 'threatens frogs'

The experimental data are too scarce and the distinction he draws between the masculine world of risk-taking traders and the more feminised world of asset managers skips over the fact that many supposedly cautious, long-term investors made poor bets in the boom.

ECONOMIST: Testosterone and taking risks