Your intelligence is partly due to hard work, nutrition, and education. But you can also thank (or blame) your genes for your mental abilities.
Decades of work on twin studies suggest that genes account for roughly half of variations in IQ seen across a population. And a meta-analysis published [recently] in Nature on nearly 80,000 people has identified 40 specific genes that affect intelligence. The one study more than quadrupled the number of genes scientists know of that shape intelligence, bringing the total number to 52.
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[However,] there are hundreds of genes that play a role in intelligence [that] are yet to be discovered.But plenty of people are anxious about scientists heading down that path, and what will happen when they reach the end of it…It presents an uncompromising but disquieting truth: That some people will just never be as intelligent as others, simply because of their genetics.
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In an editorial, the authors of the study acknowledge the controversy…and say many concerns derive from racist eugenic practices of the past. But the genetics of intelligence is “complex and subtle”…and simply doesn’t support prejudiced theories of racial superiority. In fact, they argue, better understanding the genetics underlying intelligence will disprove racist theories of eugenicists.
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: A massive new study lays out the map of our genetic intelligence
