The hottest Genetics Substack posts right now

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Top Health & Wellness Topics

How Natural Tradeoff And Failure Components?

Astral Codex Ten • 12388 implied HN points • 26 Mar 26
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. Genetic risk for schizophrenia breaks into two parts: one shared with bipolar that seems to boost educational attainment (a tradeoff that might relate to creativity or motivation), and another separate part that harms IQ via neurodevelopmental failures.
  2. More broadly, many bad outcomes are mixtures of tradeoffs (choices or traits that bring other benefits) and failures (purely harmful factors), so things like poverty, relationship status, or illness can arise for either reason or both.
  3. This isn’t universal: some conditions are simply failures caused by bad mutations, and it’s usually the risk factors — not the disorder itself — that may carry compensating advantages, so don’t assume every harm has a hidden benefit.

The Missing CHIP

Ground Truths • 8223 implied HN points • 15 Mar 26
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. CHIP (clonal hematopoiesis) is a common, age-related blood stem cell change that meaningfully raises risk for heart disease, blood cancers, clots, and inflammatory problems, with risk depending on clone size and the specific mutated gene.
  2. New research shows CHIP is actionable: drugs like low‑dose colchicine, IL‑1β blockers, inflammasome inhibitors, and other agents can reduce CHIP or its downstream risks, and genetic discoveries point to future prevention strategies.
  3. Testing for CHIP is highly informative but currently limited by high cost, complex deep‑sequencing methods, and slow guideline uptake, so cheaper targeted assays and more clinical programs could enable screening and early prevention for older adults.

The Good News Is That One Side Has Definitively Won The Missing Heritability Debate

Astral Codex Ten • 27599 implied HN points • 03 Dec 25
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. Recent research shows that most traits are influenced by genetics, but researchers still can't agree on how much. Some studies suggest up to 80% heritability, while others find it closer to 30%.
  2. The new study used advanced genetic analysis on a large number of people, capturing 88% of the heritability gap previously unexplained by genetics. However, this still leaves a significant portion unaccounted for.
  3. There's a divide in how people interpret the results: some believe this study supports the idea of many rare genetic variants influencing traits, while others think it confirms that heritability might not be very high to begin with.

A Visual Guide to DNA Sequencing

Asimov Press • 851 implied HN points • 26 Feb 26
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. DNA sequencing has moved from slow, radioactive lab work to fast, automated machines, causing sequencing costs and turnaround times to fall dramatically.
  2. Different technologies make trade-offs: some (like Illumina) give very accurate short reads, others (like PacBio and nanopore) produce long reads useful for repetitive or complex regions, and nanopore adds portability and real-time reading.
  3. These advances have revolutionized biology and medicine by enabling large-scale genome projects, clinical genetic testing, ancient DNA and metagenomics studies, and ongoing efforts to make whole-genome sequencing even cheaper and more widely available.

Why is the Probability Zero?

Contemplations on the Tree of Woe • 3958 implied HN points • 08 Jan 26
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. Mathematical arguments claim natural selection doesn’t have enough time or fixation power to produce the huge genomic differences between humans and chimps. The critique points to numbers like ~202,500 available generations, a ~1,600-generation fixation ceiling, and a near-5σ improbability to support that claim.
  2. The field of evolutionary biology is criticized as mathematically underprepared, with historical and contemporary exchanges presented as evidence that biologists often can’t answer quantitative objections. Common defenses such as parallel fixation or neutral theory are argued to either abandon Darwinism or fail on mathematical grounds.
  3. An alternative called Intelligent Genetic Manipulation (Gray Day Theory) is proposed as the most parsimonious explanation for observed genetic variation, and new models like a Bio-Cycle fixation correction are offered. The critique also warns that peer review and AI systems can be fooled by fake science and that AI collaboration was used to develop the mathematical work.
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Dead Reckoning

Asimov Press • 264 implied HN points • 07 Mar 26
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. Complex bioarchaeology combines bone biology, isotope chemistry, radiocarbon dating, ancient DNA, and forensic trauma analysis to identify people and reconstruct how they lived and died.
  2. Applying those methods, researchers confirmed a medieval skeleton as Duke Béla of Macsó by matching age, stature, diet, corrected radiocarbon dates, and genetic links to both Byzantine and Rurikid lineages, while trauma analysis showed multiple attackers and brutal perimortem wounds.
  3. Beyond single cases, this integrated approach can correct or fill gaps in written history and reveal hidden patterns of violence and migration, though it can’t fully recover ancient population counts lost to time.

Why I’m so short

Robert Reich • 56939 implied HN points • 11 Jul 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Genetics
  1. Personal experiences shape our identities and perspectives.
  2. Physical attributes like height can influence social interactions and perceptions.
  3. Society's biases towards height can impact various aspects of life, including elections.

Suddenly, Trait-Based Embryo Selection

Astral Codex Ten • 23538 implied HN points • 31 Jul 25
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. Trait-based embryo selection is becoming more common, allowing parents to pick embryos with better health outcomes and predict certain traits. This could mean healthier children with lower risks of diseases like diabetes or cancer.
  2. There are ethical concerns about this technology, including the potential for creating inequality, as only wealthier families might afford these choices. Critics worry this could lead to a divide between those who can enhance their children's traits and those who can't.
  3. While the science behind polygenic embryo selection is still evolving, some argue it may not fully deliver on its promises. It's important for parents to understand both the potential benefits and the limitations as this technology becomes more available.

We need to talk about astrology

Granted • 18608 implied HN points • 10 Mar 24
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. Astrology does not have scientific backing and can lead to harmful stereotypes and discrimination.
  2. Studies have shown that zodiac signs do not correspond to personality traits, and astrology cannot predict life outcomes.
  3. Belief in astrology may indicate a lack of critical thinking skills and could lead to acceptance of other unfounded beliefs.

Why do people still not know about genes?

Heterodox STEM • 270 implied HN points • 01 Mar 26
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. Genes are a major driver of personality and behaviour — studies show roughly half of the variation in psychological traits is genetic, and traits like aggression and criminality are substantially heritable.
  2. Most mainstream discussion blames parenting, poverty or household instability for crime and life outcomes, but that often ignores the strong genetic contribution and can lead to mistaken conclusions and poor policy choices.
  3. Correlations between childhood environment and bad outcomes are frequently confounded by shared genes, so you must control for genetics (and account for random developmental effects) before claiming that poverty or family structure directly causes crime.

Missing Heritability: Much More Than You Wanted To Know

Astral Codex Ten • 27186 implied HN points • 26 Jun 25
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. Twin studies suggest that many traits, like intelligence, are largely inherited, estimating about 60% genetic influence. However, more recent genetic research, like genome-wide association studies, has only been able to identify a fraction of this heritability.
  2. There is a debate among scientists about the reasons for the 'missing heritability.' Some believe it's because twin studies might overestimate genetic influence, while others think we simply haven't found all the relevant genes yet.
  3. New methods, such as within-family comparisons, are showing that many genetic predictors might not be as strong as previously thought. This could mean that environmental factors play a bigger role in shaping traits than we've understood.

Heritability of human life span is about 50% when heritability is redefined to be something different

DYNOMIGHT INTERNET NEWSLETTER • 703 implied HN points • 05 Feb 26
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. If you measure lifespan heritability in a simulated world with no non‑aging deaths (accidents, murder, overdoses, infectious disease), the apparent heritability rises to roughly 46–57%, about 50%.
  2. Heritability is an observational ratio that depends on societal and environmental factors, so lowering extrinsic mortality naturally increases the fraction of lifespan variation attributed to genetics.
  3. The simulation is a useful exercise and matches historical twin estimates, but its strong assumptions and vague reporting mean the ~50% figure shouldn’t be taken as the true modern heritability; a more cautious read of the results suggests something closer to 35–45% (around 40%).

Heritability as Stalking Horse for Mutability

Freddie deBoer • 3310 implied HN points • 01 Dec 25
🚌 Education Genetics
  1. People argue about heritability, but what most people really care about is mutability — whether education and policy can change students' academic outcomes.
  2. Research shows students' relative academic positions are largely set early and remain stable despite interventions, suggesting there are consistent individual differences that schooling rarely eliminates.
  3. Non-genetic factors like prematurity, lead exposure, or brain injury can cause large, lasting academic harms, so 'environmental' does not automatically mean a problem is controllable or easily fixed.

On Personality Psychology

In My Tribe • 303 implied HN points • 07 Feb 26
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. Personality traits only nudge the odds; the situation and the people around someone usually explain behavior better than fixed “types” do.
  2. Successful builders often show persistence, agency, and resilience, but survivorship bias means sticking with something doesn’t guarantee success for most people.
  3. The path from genes to personality to behavior is messy, so genetic predictors are weak and experiences, relationships, and context matter a lot.

Puzzling out elephant longevity

Trevor Klee’s Newsletter • 2014 implied HN points • 07 Dec 25
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. Elephants' low cancer rates and long lives are tied to many non-identical TP53 copies—retrogenes and a reanimated pseudogene—that work together with their immune and DNA-regulatory systems.
  2. Other long-lived animals like bats use different strategies, emphasizing DNA repair and immune modulation along with regulated p53 activity rather than just more cell-suicide signals.
  3. Longevity is multi-factorial and species-specific, so a single explanation (like extra TP53 copies) is incomplete and can't be copied into another species without integrating many other systems.

Twin heritability models can tell you whatever you want to hear

The Infinitesimal • 719 implied HN points • 09 Aug 24
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. Twin heritability models can produce different estimates of how much traits are influenced by genetics versus environment. This can lead to confusion about what is truly inherited and what is shaped by upbringing.
  2. Cultural factors along with genetic factors play a significant role in shaping traits. Sometimes, what seems genetic can actually be environmental influences like parenting styles, which complicate our understanding of inheritance.
  3. Recent studies suggest that assumptions made in traditional twin studies might not be entirely accurate. By including more family relationships and considering cultural impacts, researchers can get a clearer picture of what really contributes to traits.

A Brief History of Xenopus

Asimov Press • 361 implied HN points • 09 Feb 26
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. Xenopus frogs became a lab staple after their eggs were used as a fast, reusable pregnancy test, which flooded research centers with animals and made them easy-to-use model organisms.
  2. Their large, manipulable eggs and cell-free egg extracts let scientists probe development and cell biology directly, producing landmark results like the organizer graft experiments, discoveries about the cell cycle and spindle assembly, and the first cloning from an adult cell.
  3. Xenopus laevis's tetraploid genome made genetics difficult, so researchers turned to the diploid X. tropicalis and later genetic tools; despite those complications, both species remain important models for developmental biology, drug testing, and other experiments.

Genomic prediction of IQ is modern snake oil

The Infinitesimal • 1298 implied HN points • 06 Jul 24
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. Genetic tests claiming to predict IQ are not reliable. They often rely on complex methods that mostly just lead to guesswork.
  2. The accuracy of these genetic predictions is very low, explaining only a tiny fraction of variations in IQ scores. In fact, other factors like age and social environment play a much bigger role.
  3. Many of these predictions confuse people about how genetics really work. It's important to understand that these scores should be treated more like entertainment than serious assessments.

Gene-environment interactions: ubiquitous yet undetectable

The Infinitesimal • 359 implied HN points • 21 Aug 24
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. Gene-environment interactions (GxE) are common but hard to identify in humans. They show how genetic traits can change in different environments, affecting how we understand traits like obesity or education.
  2. There are different models to explain how genes and environments work together. Some models show that environments can amplify or change the effects of multiple genetic variants on traits.
  3. Research has found that environmental factors, like socioeconomic status or education quality, can significantly influence how genetic variations are expressed, meaning genetics alone doesn't tell the whole story about traits.

Should All Parents Consider Embryo Selection?

Richard Hanania's Newsletter • 1511 implied HN points • 01 Dec 25
🏥 Health & Wellness Genetics
  1. Research suggests that embryo selection and IVF may not lead to significantly worse outcomes compared to natural conception. Many potential negative effects may actually stem from the parents' health rather than the IVF process itself.
  2. Sperm competition in natural conception may not provide a better selection of embryos than IVF methods, which often involve either filtering sperm or simply picking the best-looking one.
  3. Overall health and success of children born through assisted reproductive technology tend to be more influenced by factors like socioeconomic status than by the method of conception itself.

Pit Bulls Part I: Identification

Cremieux Recueil • 567 implied HN points • 16 Jan 26
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. Pit bulls are a recognizable type of dog with a consistent, stout muscular build and behavioral traits like high gameness and persistence that come from their bull‑and‑terrier fighting ancestry.
  2. People can reliably identify pit bull–type dogs by sight; studies and large public classification tests show high accuracy, and accuracy rises as pit ancestry increases.
  3. Arguments that pit bulls can’t be identified or that they were bred to be non‑aggressive toward humans are unsupported, and common patterns of misclassification tend to hide or downplay—rather than inflate—the elevated risks tied to pit bull type dogs.

Highlights From The Comments On Missing Heritability

Astral Codex Ten • 6194 implied HN points • 03 Jul 25
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. Genetic and environmental interactions matter a lot in understanding traits. Some traits are influenced by how genes work together with the environment, which makes it tricky to measure their heritability accurately.
  2. Using genetic scores from one population in another can lead to incorrect conclusions about intelligence differences. This happens because different groups might have different gene structures affecting traits, leading to wrong assumptions about genetic causes of observed differences.
  3. Research methods like twin studies and adoption studies can show different heritability estimates. It's important to carefully consider the assumptions behind these studies, as biases can impact results significantly.

Hitler's Sex Life and the Great Man Theory of History

Richard Hanania's Newsletter • 1438 implied HN points • 30 Nov 25
💾 History Genetics
  1. The talk about changing a bad government like Venezuela's highlights that some regimes may need to be ousted for better leadership. Regime change isn't always a bad idea, especially if it can lead to improvements.
  2. There's a big fertility crisis happening worldwide, and the reasons are complex. Urban poverty in the US is often linked to issues within underprivileged communities, while East Asia seems to handle urban poverty very differently.
  3. Many Japanese prime ministers have been Christians, which is surprising since historically, Japanese culture wasn't focused on education. This raises questions about how educational values shifted over time in Asian societies.

Why I am not a polygenic score nihilist

Wyclif's Dust • 5365 implied HN points • 01 Jul 25
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. Polygenic scores can explain significant aspects of outcomes like education, despite having low R-squared values. This means they can still be useful even if they don't account for everything.
  2. The effects of genetics on educational attainment can be large, showing that having a higher polygenic score can significantly increase the chances of going to university.
  3. It's important not to dismiss polygenic scores just because they have low explanatory power. They can have real, substantial effects that matter for understanding outcomes.

How an unappetizing shrub became dozens of different vegetables

The Works in Progress Newsletter • 31 implied HN points • 09 Mar 26
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. A single wild plant, Brassica oleracea, was bred into many different vegetables—cabbage, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, gai lan, and more—by selecting for different edible parts.
  2. Its plant biology and genome made that easy: changing the shoot apical meristem’s timing produced leaves versus flower clusters, and polyploidy (extra gene copies) gave lots of genetic variation with less risk.
  3. Domestication likely began around the Mediterranean in antiquity and spread with people, and today wild and local landrace cabbage populations hold genetic diversity we can use to breed more resilient crops for future climates.

Using AI To Research The Missing Heritability Post

Astral Codex Ten • 4817 implied HN points • 02 Jul 25
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. AI can be really useful for research, especially in complex topics like genetics. It helps to gather and analyze a lot of information quickly.
  2. However, we need to be careful because AI can also provide misleading information. It's important to cross-check facts and not trust everything it says.
  3. Balancing the benefits and risks of AI is key. We should use its tools but also stay critical of the results it produces.

Political Psychology Links, 1/12/2026

In My Tribe • 288 implied HN points • 12 Jan 26
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. Many psychological findings fail to replicate, which suggests the field needs stronger methods and that folk intuitions can make it hard to tell scientific results from guesswork.
  2. Because many genes affect many traits and behavior emerges from complex gene–environment interactions, predicting disorders or specific traits from genetics is very difficult, and turning continuous traits into binary diagnoses makes the statistics less reliable.
  3. Evolutionary ideas often explain common tendencies in politics and behavior, but they are not strict rules—social institutions, personality differences, and policy choices can amplify, reduce, or reverse those tendencies.

Two Steppes forward, one step back: parsing our Indo-European past

Razib Khan's Unsupervised Learning • 652 implied HN points • 03 Dec 25
💾 History Genetics
  1. A large number of people today, about 3.4 billion, speak Indo-European languages, highlighting their wide reach and influence across different regions.
  2. Recent studies in ancient DNA have helped clarify the origins and migration patterns of Indo-Europeans, suggesting they spread from a small pastoralist population in the Pontic steppe, greatly affecting the genetic makeup of many modern populations.
  3. The shift in demographics caused by these migrations led to significant cultural changes in Europe and beyond, where the arrival of Indo-Europeans often replaced indigenous societies.

Science fictions are outpacing science facts for polygenic embryo selection

The Infinitesimal • 479 implied HN points • 13 Jul 24
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. Polygenic embryo selection may not improve outcomes significantly for complex traits like IQ or education, as gains from such selections are often minimal.
  2. Screening for diseases may also have limited results, especially when those diseases are defined by arbitrary thresholds rather than clear biological mechanisms.
  3. There may be unintended consequences from embryo selection, such as increased risk for other traits, due to complex genetic correlations that are not fully understood.

Three interesting studies of genetic variation

De Novo • 99 implied HN points • 04 Feb 26
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. Common genetic variants in meiosis genes change how many crossovers happen, and fewer crossovers raise the risk of embryo aneuploidy; those genetic risks are also tied to a shorter reproductive lifespan (later menarche and earlier menopause).
  2. A measurable fraction of people carry high Epstein–Barr virus DNA in blood, and host immune genetics — especially HLA — largely determine who can’t control persistent EBV, while viral sequence differences had little impact on disease in this large cohort.
  3. When you exclude extrinsic causes of death, intrinsic human lifespan is about 50–55% heritable, meaning genetics explain roughly half the variation in lifespan today, and older lower estimates were driven by higher environmental mortality in past cohorts.

What is The Infinitesimal?

The Infinitesimal • 499 implied HN points • 05 Jul 24
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. Human traits are influenced by many tiny genetic factors, making understanding them complex. This means small changes in genetics can impact our traits in different ways.
  2. Talking about nature versus nurture isn't simple; both genetics and environment play big roles. There's often a mix of many genes working together rather than clear-cut definitions.
  3. The concept of heritability is tricky and often debated. Different studies can show very different results about how much genetics affect things like intelligence or behavior.

Some notes on assortative mating

The Infinitesimal • 339 implied HN points • 23 Jul 24
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. Assortative mating happens when partners select each other based on certain traits, like height or education, making their children more genetically similar over generations.
  2. This type of mating can lead to increased genetic variance in the population, but does not change the genetic variance within families because the parent's traits balance out among the children.
  3. When estimating heritability or variance, it’s important to use the right approach. Population-level estimates can be misleading if based on family data, and vice versa.

Maybe THIS Is Why You're Hangry

Harnessing the Power of Nutrients • 1817 implied HN points • 19 Mar 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Genetics
  1. Feeling hangry might not always be due to low blood sugar, other factors like S-sulfocysteine levels in your urine could play a role in overstimulation symptoms.
  2. Elevated S-sulfocysteine, a neurostimulant, can result from breakdown of protein when hungry for glucose and may lead to various overstimulation symptoms like anxiety and muscle tension.
  3. Testing for S-sulfocysteine levels in urine should be more widely implemented to understand its potential impact on psychological traits and neuro-psychiatric diseases.

Cooperation is the scaffolding principle of life

Optimally Irrational • 56 implied HN points • 18 Feb 26
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. Cooperation is the scaffolding of life: from genes inside cells to multicellular organisms, species partnerships, and animal societies, working together is what made complexity and survival possible.
  2. Cooperation is not unconditional — it evolved because it benefits participants and must be sustained by checks like punishment, partner choice, reputation, and quality control to prevent cheating.
  3. Humans scaled cooperation to huge groups by evolving social cognition and building institutions, so solving social problems means designing rules and organizations that harness collective gains while limiting conflicts of interest.

Iron Overload: Forget What You Thought You Knew

Harnessing the Power of Nutrients • 1817 implied HN points • 09 Mar 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Genetics
  1. Iron overload can lead to serious health issues like liver damage and heart problems, and may accelerate aging.
  2. Manganese overload is linked to symptoms like headaches and balance issues and can be a concern for those with genetic predispositions to iron overload.
  3. When managing iron overload, it's critical to limit dietary manganese intake, maintain a proper iron-to-manganese ratio, and be cautious about how blood donation affects manganese toxicity.

Minimal Evidence of Heterogeneity in Effect Estimates: GWAS from the Million Veteran Program

The Infinitesimal • 319 implied HN points • 19 Jul 24
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. The Million Veteran Program's study looked at genetic data from 600,000 people, revealing that diversity in ancestry helped identify genetic traits linked to diseases.
  2. Most genetic differences between groups were due to allele frequency changes rather than real differences in how genes affect health.
  3. Fewer than 1% of significant genetic associations showed differences between populations, indicating that many genetic effects are quite similar across different ancestry groups.

We’re entering a golden age of engineering biology

Noahpinion • 16647 implied HN points • 18 Feb 24
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. The advancements in deep learning, cost-effective data collection through lab automation, and precision DNA editing with technologies like CRISPR are converging to transform biology from a scientific field to an engineering discipline.
  2. Historically, biology has been challenging due to its immense complexity, requiring costly trial-and-error experiments. However, with current advancements, we are now at a critical point where predictability and engineering in biological systems are becoming a reality.
  3. The decreasing cost of DNA sequencing, breakthroughs in deep learning models for biology, sophisticated lab automation, and precise genetic editing tools like CRISPR are paving the way for a revolutionary era in engineering biology, with vast potential in healthcare, agriculture, and industry.

We should measure effect sizes on substantively important scales

Wyclif's Dust • 2146 implied HN points • 12 Jul 25
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. Effect sizes matter when they're measured on scales that are important to real life. For example, a small change in the chance of going to university can have a huge impact on families and policies.
  2. Correlation coefficients aren't the only way to measure effect sizes. Sometimes, using different scales can make it clearer how significant an effect really is.
  3. Noisy outcomes can still be meaningful. Just because there's variation around a mean doesn't mean the underlying effect isn't strong; it's important to look at how much outcomes change in significant ways.

The Biological Argument against LNT

Gordian Knot News • 183 implied HN points • 21 Jan 26
🔬 Science Genetics
  1. DNA is fragile and gets damaged thousands of times per cell every day, but cells have powerful, diverse repair systems that undo most of that damage, so you can’t assume radiation damage is simply cumulative and unrepairable.
  2. The LNT model stays dominant by leaning on noisy exposure data and rhetorical traps that shift the argument away from biology, allowing critics to be boxed into defending vague "safe dose" ideas instead of disproving the model; clear counterexamples (like the radium dial painter cases) contradict LNT.
  3. To replace LNT we must focus on the biology, use strong, high-dose or distinct-exposure counterexamples, avoid vague safety rhetoric, and adopt a well-defined, computable harm model that accounts for DNA repair.