Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of

unchanging truth. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street. New just-published research suggests

that a man's brain cortex shifts in size and shape when he becomes a dad. The cortex is the part

of the brain that's responsible for high-level functioning, like reasoning and emotion.

The result of the changes to the brain cortex, scientists believe, is better empathy.

Professor Darby-Saxby of the University of Southern California, who studies brain plasticity, stated that becoming a father, quote, requires new skills like being able to empathize with a nonverbal infant,

so it makes sense.

This is just the latest scientific research to back up a simple fact, that fathers are more than just sperm donors.

They have a connection with their children beyond contributing DNA.

In fact, that whole myth is losing credibility

in the face of scientific and medical evidence. For instance, we now know that fathers bond

physically and emotionally with their children in a way that complements a mother's bond. That's why

skin-to-skin contact with dad is now a common practice in delivery rooms just like skin-to-skin contact with moms.

And the connections don't end there. Recent discoveries also suggest that dedicated fathers,

like dedicated mothers, undergo dramatic hormonal and neurological shifts upon the arrival of a baby.

Some experts now think that those shifts and the father-child bond that creates them

begin before birth. In an article in the Atlantic, Ariel Romacandi described a bizarre

condition that sometimes afflicts expectant fathers. What's known as Kuwati syndrome is a poorly

understood set of symptoms in which a man experiences physical changes that mirror those of

his pregnant partner, like gaining weight, vomiting, aches and pains, even cravings.

Understandably, dads who go through such things are often embarrassed to talk about it.

Kind of sounds like one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's worst movies, Jr.

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