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Current understanding of how culture relates to the development of children's gender‐related peer preferences is limited. To investigate the role of societal acceptance of gender nonconformity, this study compared children from China and Thailand. Unlike China and other cultures where the conceptualization of gender as binary is broadly accepted, individuals who identify as a nonbinary "third" sex/gender have been highly visible and tolerated in Thai society for at least several decades. Chinese and Thai 4‐ to 9‐year‐olds (N = 458) viewed vignettes of four hypothetical peers who varied on gender (i.e., boy vs. girl) and gender‐typed toy play behavior (i.e., masculine vs. feminine), and were asked to give a friendship preference rating for each peer. Chinese, compared with Thai, children evidenced gender‐related peer preferences that emerged earlier, remained more stable across age groups, and were relatively more biased against gender‐nonconforming behavior. The only cultural similarity was in children's preference for peers who were of the same gender and/or displayed same‐gender‐typed behavior. Thus, while preference for peers who are of the same gender and/or display same‐gender‐typed behavior is common among children across cultures, the developmental onset and course of these preferences vary by culture. Moreover, societal acceptance of gender nonconformity might be key to limiting children's bias against gender‐nonconforming peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is increasing interest within the scientific community, as well as the public, to determine if tropical cyclones are increasing in frequency and/or magnitude because of climate change. Unfortunately, the instrumental weather record only extends over the last 100–150 years depending upon location. It is thus desirable to develop paleo-storm proxies to extend the tropical cyclone record to hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Overwash sand deposits, sediment grain size, and various geochemical parameters (e.g., δ13C, δ15N, C/N) have been applied successfully for coastal lake sediments. We present here another potential proxy candidate, the natural radionuclide 210Pb. With a 22.2-year half-life, 210Pb age dating is often used to calibrate other proxies over essentially the same period as the instrumental storm record. We hypothesize here that trends in the 210Pb profiles, in addition to providing chronological information, can provide independent records of storm deposits in some situations. To illustrate how 210Pb may serve as an additional storm proxy, we present data from sediment cores collected from the Chao Phraya Delta (Upper Gulf of Thailand), an area characterized by a rapidly retreating shoreline. Some of the 210Pb profiles mark sedimentary layers with anomalously low excess 210Pb activities interspersed between layers with significant excess activities. We suggest that these layers may result from rapid deposition offshore of older storm-eroded shoreline material. The estimated ages of these 210Pb-deficient layers match, within estimated uncertainties, years when typhoons or tropical storms are reported to have severely eroded the nearby Thai coastline. The matching of the time scales of 210Pb and recorded tropical cyclones, both about 100–150 years, allows this approach to be used to explore for storm deposits and tune geochemical and other proxies for extended study over time scales of several decades or longer. • Severe shoreline regression occurs along the Upper Gulf of Thailand. • Local villagers indicate that much of this erosion occurs during typhoons. • Offshore sediment 210Pb profiles display anomalously low 210Pb activity horizons. • CRS ages relate these layers to known storms implying a possible paleo-storm proxy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]