A new paper describes the idea of “genetic nurture”, where parents’ genes, even those not passed on to their child, have major effects on kids’ health and educational attainment.
Don’t look down … do we develop a fear of heights because of past bad experiences or are some of us just born that way?
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Jeffrey Craig, Murdoch Children's Research Institute
Epigenetics is increasingly used as a buzzword to sell pseudoscientific products, but the truth of epigenetics is even more interesting – and complex – than the quacks claim.
What role do genes have to play?
Student test by wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock
The idea that children can inherit the ability to get good results at school can spark heated debate. But, put simply, all this means is that children differ in how easy and enjoyable they find learning…
We live in the age of the genome. Hardly a week goes by without a story about how genes influence our health or behaviour. There has been recent excitement around new advances in the genetics of schizophrenia…
Many of the genes for maths and reading overlap.
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I disliked and feared maths for most of my school career and dropped it as soon as I possibly could. My mother recalls me crying as a five-year-old because: “I can’t do the people-on-the-bus sums”. If…
Heritability: how much do your genes impact your traits?
Jenn Durfey
Schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder and autism have all had recent attention for being “genetically caused”. In scientific research being genetically caused usually corresponds to having a high…
Psychologists have debated whether our interests are a result of nature or nurture for more than 100 years.
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So, you’ve got your father’s blonde hair and you were raised in a cricket-mad household and you like cricket. But is it your genes or your childhood that’s responsible for your love of cricket or your…