"Weak macho" might sound as an oxymoron but is not.
According to a scientific research, infact, men show less strenght than women, under certain circumstances, because of their preference to face any risk.
That's for a sort of a compensation law that moves resources from a human sector to another in order to allow men's prediliction for risky behaviour.
Read more by
Fiona Macrae on DM on line
"Watching a chap battle a bout of man flu is not a pretty sight.
With his snuffly nose, hacking cough and hangdog expression, there's no surprise that women are regarded as the more stoic of the sexes.
But what is it that makes men such sickly sorts who take to their beds at the first sign of a sniffle?
Ironically, it's apparently all down to the inherent masculine drive for adventure and danger.
According to Cambridge University researchers, modern man's ancestors had a predilection to risky behaviour (which is still seen today in anything from getting into fights to having affairs).
This tendency would have made the male system more vulnerable to becoming ill.
It could have gone down the obvious path of evolving stronger immune systems to beat off bugs.
But this would have put men at risk of developing various auto-immune diseases caused by the immune system going into overdrive.
It would also have zapped resources needed for other bodily processes, including reproduction.
So nature opted for a weaker immune system, ushering in the man who thinks a cold is the flu and a headache a migraine.
Other research has shown that men take more time off work for colds and flu than women and that the sexes are targeted and infected by different parasites when holidaying in the tropics.
Dr Olivier Restif, whose man flu theory is published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, suggested tailoring vaccination campaigns to take into account men's greater vulnerability.
He said: 'If you could identify the differences you may want to treat men and women differently."
