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Massive Study Searching For Genes Behind Intelligence Finds Little
An anonymous reader writes: It's been taken for granted that science would, one day, figure out what parts of our DNA make us smart (or not). But a huge new study done by a group of almost 60 researchers using genome data on over 100,000 people has come up empty-handed. The scientists first looked for differences in the genome that correlated with academic achievement. After narrowing it down to 69 individual sites, they gave cognitive tests to separate group of 24,000 people and looked for evidence of difference at those same locations (abstract). Most of the sites weren't significantly different from chance — the (already weak) genetic influence of genes on height has an effect 20 times greater. On top of that, the three gene locations that did seem to have a stronger correlation weren't involved in development of the nervous system.
the (already weak) genetic influence of genes on height has an effect 20 times greater
Wait... did I just read that genes only have a weak influence on height?????
Googling "genes for height"
Height clearly has a lot to do with genetics - shorter parents tend to have shorter children, and taller parents tend to have taller children...
Okay, phew! I must have misinterpreted the meaning of "already weak genetic influence." Also, each of those articles do go on to explain that nutrition, including fetal nutrition, have a significant impact as well.
The summary is incorrect, please read the abstract to form your own opinion. Specifically:
"Convergent evidence from a set of bioinformatics analyses implicates four specific genes (KNCMA1, NRXN1, POU2F3, and SCRT). All of these genes are associated with a particular neurotransmitter pathway involved in synaptic plasticity, the main cellular mechanism for learning and memory. "
Intelligence is highly heritable, but there is no single 'genius' gene and often there are multiple genetic markers that have similar positive or negative effects. This study looked for common genetic variants that correlated with memory and learning and found them!
maybe some groups have a genetic limitation to the likely of above average intelligence.
There is no maybe, every study that has ever looked into this since the dawn of science has confirmed this. Hell you don't even have to ask science, every average Joe on the street knows this already from life experience.
It's just in the last ~20 years that political correctness mass hysteria has gripped academia and the media to where it's become a thoughtcrime to think any other thought than that all races are exactly equal in every aspect except maybe skin melanin level.
And it's just the United States and a couple of other Western European countries afflicted with this weirdness. If you were to go to, say, Japan or Russia and say to a scientist, "Some races have higher genetic disposition for intelligence than others", he will most likely shrug and say "Yeah, so what?"
But just in case you're young and everything you've ever read has been sanitized by the Academic Department of Purethought: the highest average IQ of any human race/group belongs to Ashkenazi Jews.