Saturday, January 21, 2012

Genes About a Quarter of the Secret To Staying Smart

Not necessarily. If I'm reading this right, all this study showed that there was a correlation between certain DNA sequences and cognitive stability in 25% of the people in the study. That's it. "Mental exercise, diet, etc," could account for the other 75%, sure, but it could also be that the other 75% is purely genetic, but the researchers were looking at the wrong thing. Or that the correlation is pure coincidence. Or that there was a freak storm of cosmic rays that changed the DNA of 25% of the study participants[1]. Or that their methodology was flawed. Or that their methodology was correct but the sample size was just too small. Et cetera, ad infinitum.

In short, the study?any study?says what it says. What it doesn't say, it doesn't imply.

[1] And granted them superpowers, of course.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/KASYIseByPk/genes-about-a-quarter-of-the-secret-to-staying-smart

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