Word: geneses
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Readers of the science pages could be forgiven for thinking that the conversation in the cartoon on the opposite page really took place. Study after study has shown that genes can affect behavior and mental life. Identical twins separated at birth (who share their genes but not their environment) are...
The discovery that genes have something to do with behavior came as a shock in the second half of the 20th century, when most people still thought that the mind of a newborn was a blank slate and that anyone could do anything if only he or she strove hard...
As we increase our knowledge of how the genome works, many beliefs about ourselves will indeed have to be rethought. But the worst fears of the genophobes are misplaced. It is easy to exaggerate the significance of behavioral genetics for our lives. For one thing, genes cannot pull the strings...
Also, don't count on the I'll-let-you-get-off-the-phone-now gene--or any other single gene with a large behavioral effect--being identified anytime soon. Behavioral genetics has uncovered a paradox. Studies that measure similarities among twins and adoptees reliably show strong effects of sharing...
So psychological engineering is more remote than the futurologists would have you believe. Though musical talent may be partly heritable, there is probably no single gene for musical talent that ambitious parents can have implanted into their unborn children. It might take hundreds or thousands of the right genes, with...