Genetics: Easy as ABC

Why is it that I am left sobbing over the ending of ‘The Notebook’, when my best friend is sat stoically on the sofa next to me? Well, scientists have shown that the emotionality of an individual is variable and, at least partly, due to your genes. So, the fact that you’re crying over the advert of the two old people holding hands in the nursing home, may not just be because you’ve had three glasses of wine at dinner, but instead may be due to your genetics. Using a questionnaire to establish emotional sensitivity, one study used twins to determine the influence of genes on emotion. The researchers compared the answers to these questionnaires in 1,000 identical twins (who share 100% of their DNA), compared to 1,800 non-identical twins (who only share 50% of their DNA, the same amount as in normal siblings). The researchers found that identical twins have greater similarity in emotional sensitivity scores compared to non-identical twins. The scientists in this study concluded that 47%...

Have you heard about the Imafidon family? Chris and Ann Imafidon and their five children, a Nigerian family living in the UK, are known as the smartest family in England. Chris, a multi-award winning scientist; twins, Paula and Peter, the youngest children in British history to attend high school and pass the University of Cambridge’s advanced mathematics exam; Ann-Marie, the youngest person ever to graduate with a master’s degree, at age 19, from Oxford; Christina, the youngest person to be accepted onto a degree course at age 11; and finally, Samantha, who passed two high school-level mathematics and statistics exams at the age of 6. An undeniably very smart family, which automatically leads to questions on how they are all so intelligent. Could it be their upbringing? Their education? Or could it be their genes? Studying intelligence has always been incredibly challenging, because of its complexity; there is not only one factor which can impact intelligence, and separating these f...

One of the first records of inheritance is shown on a 6,000-year-old Babylonian tablet, confirming that humans have recognised that traits are passed from parents to their children, and that plants and livestock can be bred for beneficial characteristics, for thousands of years. Although the existence of inheritance has been recognised for millennia, the mechanism has only been discovered in the last 200 years, making the history of genetics a relatively short, but fascinating one. Inheritance was first studied scientifically in the mid-19 th century, alongside the theory of evolution. Charles Darwin began to theorise that organisms adapt overtime to their environment. Through survival of the fittest, those organisms with favourable characteristics are more likely to survive and reproduce to pass on the same favourable characteristics to their offspring.   A few years later, Gregor Mendel, a German monk, began experimenting on pea plants, and inadvertently discovered how these...

If you look in the mirror, can you pick out which facial features you have inherited from your parents? Perhaps you have the same nose as your mum. Or the same hair colour as your dad. But what happens if you inherit something more serious than eye colour? Some diseases, such as cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy and colour blindness are hereditary, meaning that if one or both of your parents have the disorder, there is a chance you, or even your children, could develop the disorder too. But how do you find out whether you are likely to have the disorder, what does it mean for you and your loved ones and what support is available to you? Picture this: You have just found out that your mum has been diagnosed with breast cancer. This is obviously a very difficult thing to hear, and you are very upset by the news. But then, you remember your grandmother also passed away due to breast cancer. Thinking that this may be a pattern, you go to your doctor to talk about your concerns, and you...