India, June 27 -- Testosterone has always carried a cultural weight far above its molecular weight. In popular parlance, the word spells sexual vigour. In reality, testosterone's role in the human body extends far beyond sex drive.

Earlier this year, US health and human services secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. boasted about President Donald Trump's testosterone levels. Referring to a Trump interview from 2016, Kennedy said that Dr Oz had looked at Trump's medical records and found "the highest testosterone levels that he's ever seen for an individual over 70 years old." The implication was clear - a supremely masculine, aggressive go-getter, the kind of image that many leaders and rulers like to project. Yet the "macho aggression" stereot...