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Thursday, May 15, 2008
Genes 1, Enviroment 1,,, the game continues.
Ok, sure there have been much more points for each side in the recent scientific history but anyhow... this is just about what I read today in Science Daily.
Genes' score was made by gene GLUT2, whose variation seems to explain like for sugar among humans. Enviroment's score was made by rhesus macaques, among whom subordinate stressed individuals happen to be a lot more likely to have an obesity and diabetes-prone diet, out of frustration.
As said, the game continues and it looks like it's going to be a very hard competition that may well end up in (uh-oh!) tie.
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I think genes matter at the individual level. However, at the community level it's environment/culture that determines the things. The sum total of genetic propensity towards anything is more or less nullified at the community level.
I really don't know but I suspect it's something at least 50-50. I often read about genes that seem to determine this or that trait but later learn that is only up to some level, with other genes being also active, sometimes in contradiction, with epigenetic factors, with enviromental (psychological) variance also being there...
It seems very relative even at individual level. Inversely now and then you can read on genetic variants more or less influential on some psycho-social trait, like aggresivity/submission, etc.
It's a very interesting topic but I don't know if we are really much closer to the answer than before the developement of modern genetics, really.
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