It Takes a Genome: How a Clash Between Our Genes and Modern Life Is Making Us Sick

A Few Words About IQ

Inevitably, pundits are going to start noticing that some of the variants supposedly associated with human differences are at different frequencies in different racial groups. Nowhere is this more worrying than in relation to inference about human intelligence. In fact, it has already started. Microcephalin, for example, is a gene required for brain development in mice, and rare mutations also cause human children to be born with tiny brains. It has been argued that it is one of the most strongly selected genes in humans, with particular alleles being prominent in Caucasians but absent in Africans. Ergo, in the minds of those quick to jump to flimsy conclusions, Africans are said to be genetically inferior intellectually. ...