Monthly Archives: July 2018

After a long and difficult pregnancy, Nature Genetics  finally gave birth to a big paper about genetic influences  on educational achievement. Now we know more of the genes that result in high heritability of phenotypes like educational attainment – including something … Continue reading →

I’ve been pondering some of the points  Robert Plomin has made in Blueprint, and I find myself thinking about some things that he doesn’t say, but should have. All this in the context of a book that is generally sensible. … Continue reading →

I’m going to review Robert Plomin’s  new book,  Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are.  It’ll show up in Quillette . By the way, I should someday write a piece for them about how I am not a moderate left-winger … Continue reading →

It seems that although the Amerindians had dogs (after a while), those puppies did very poorly after Columbus.  Modern dog breeds have slim-to-no ancestry of this kind ( from comparisons with ancient dog DNA) . You have to suspect infectious … Continue reading →

More studies are suggesting  that Alzheimer’s disease may be caused by a persistent  viral infection of the brain.  Autopsy studies show that Alzheimer’s victims have higher viral load. A couple of other recent studies in Taiwan suggest that antiviral drugs … Continue reading →

I noticed an article in the Atlantic, about much higher rates of disability, behavior and learning problems, suspensions.  Lower achievement on reading, math, and science assessment tests.  They can’t figure it out. There must be something attractive about living in … Continue reading →

” Picture this nursery school scene: 10 1-year-olds are squeezed next to one another on a bench, their backs against a wall. They sit motionless. None cry, push or shove. A woman attendant takes a small windup toy chicken out … Continue reading →

Time to respond to Eric Turkheimer’s  post. In my review of Carl Zimmer’s book, I said that the existing fixation index values between continental races are compatible with very significant physical and behavioral differences between those races, because wolves and … Continue reading →

In my review, I complained a bit about Zimmer being prolix. Here is an example.  In Chapter 4, “Atta Girl” , if you strip out the human-interest anecdotes, he’s saying “Mendelian diseases exist and can be serious. They’re usually recessive.  … Continue reading →

Now up in Quillette. The cartoon didn’t make it, but here it is.   (Art by Bryan Johnson, caption by Russel T. Warne, Copyright: Russel T. Warne, 2017)   Also editors edit. Final version: “there would be a huge difference … Continue reading →