From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Fri May 08 1998 - 10:53:18 MDT
John K Clark <johnkc@well.com> writes:
> The first genetic marker has been found for a gene that has a weak but
> statistically real effect on IQ. Robert Plomin of the London Institute Of
> Psychiatry reported the results of his 5 year study in the May 1998 issue of
> the journal "Psychological Science". Plomin studied the genes of 204 children,
> none were retarded and 51 of the kids had an IQ of 160 or higher. He found
> there was a relationship between high IQ and a marker on chromosome 6 called
> IGF2R.
This isn't as exciting as it sounds, unfortunately. The gene codes for
an immune protein, and there are a few other intelligence-related
genes I have heard about which are also immune-linked. Partially this
is because they are easy to test for, but I think there is a fairly
easy explanation for the immune-IQ correlation: if you have a strong
immune system, you have more time and energy in school (or elsewhere)
where your brain will be trained.
Still, it is promising. It is when we start to find brain proteins
linked with intelligence we should really start to cheer!
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
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