There is also an ongoing search for the "intelligence gene" or genes that can explain variations in intelligence, a hunt for the biological source of general intelligence.
An even more sophisticated array of interactions makes the quest for an "intelligence gene" seem quixotic.
Scientists say that bald men are more clever than non-bald men because they have discovered that the baldness gene is linked to the
intelligence gene. Oh gawd.
That's the promise from scientists who have identified an intelligence gene.
An intelligence gene may take 10 or 20 years to perfect and make available to the general public - supposing the ethics committees allow us to exploit it.
After the Gay Gene and the
Intelligence Gene, geneticist Dr Dean Hamer has now discovered the Tomcatting Gene.
"The development of our intellectual abilities and the optimization of thousands of
intelligence genes probably occurred in relatively non-verbal, dispersed groups of peoples before our ancestors emerged from Africa," said the study's author, Dr.
"My parents were, quite literally, rocket scientists," he says, "but I didn't inherit their
intelligence genes."
Other proponents say that their argument is being bolstered by research that's closing in on
intelligence genes.
The scientists say that a woman's second X chromosome dampens the effect of the
intelligence genes, making her less likely to be mentally-subnormal or brilliant.
Plomin believes that he has identified perhaps 10 other "
intelligence genes." While Ridley points out that "no study of the causes of intelligence has failed to find a substantial heritability," he also notes that untangling environmental from genetic influences on intelligence is impossible.
Since many of the genes that are responsible for mental retardation are located on the X chromosome, that, according to the author, is where the
intelligence genes are also to be found.