On October 3, a trial began in Florida. Tim Ferriter, a white man, was charged with aggravated child abuse, false imprisonment, and neglect of a child. His wife, Tracy, also white, sat just behind him throughout the trial. She was also charged, but the couple’s trials were severed and a date for hers has not... Read More

I don’t do policy, but how about this one? In addition to all public policies aimed at getting rid of the achievement gaps between different groups, why not take an intensive approach? Continue with every program which is already under way, but add this one. Get every child who is under-performing to live permanently from... Read More

One of the greatest pieces of evidence demonstrating that the family/rearing environment has no effect on eventual outcomes is the absence of birth order effects. Birth order is an excellent test for these effects: it is something that systematically differs between siblings and is bona fide non-genetic (mostly). Hence, it's a great way to see... Read More

In debating the causes of the Montreal Massacre, we must confront the psychological similarities between Marc Lépine and his father. Both seem to have had low thresholds for ideation and expression of violence. Was this quick temper passed down from father to son? Or are the similarities only fortuitous? If these psychological characteristics had passed... Read More

On December 6, 1989, a 25-year-old man walked into Montreal’s École polytechnique and murdered fourteen women. The event is still being debated … twenty years later. We know the immediate cause. The murderer, Marc Lépine, felt that places like the École polytechnique were training women to take jobs that had been mainly held by men... Read More

It has long been known that children are likelier to be abused, neglected, or murdered by stepparents than by birth parents. This kind of genetic discrimination seems consistent with kin selection theory: parents are expected to care more for children who share kinship with them, as opposed to a purely legal and social relationship (Daly... Read More