Genetic Intelligence Tests Are Next to Worthless

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

The Atlantic, May 29, 2018

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In 2016, I got my genome sequenced while I was working on a book about heredity. Some scientists kindly pointed out some of the interesting features of my genetic landscape. And then they showed me how to navigate the data on my own. Ever since, I’ve been a genomic wayfarer. Whenever I come across some new insight into the links between our genes and our lives, I check my own DNA. One day I’m inspecting a mutation that raises my risk of skin cancer. The next I’m discovering I have a variant for smooth teeth.

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Friday’s Elk, May 22, 2018

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen
First Excerpt from “She Has Her Mother’s Laugh”

At long last, I can start sharing some of the stuff in my new book, which arrives in book stores one week from today. (You can pre-order it now.)

She Has Her Mother’s Laugh is all about heredity, including forms of heredity that don’t get as much attention as they deserve. This morning’s New York Times has an excerpt about one of those unexpected forms: our inner heredity. Our development into human beings begins with one fertilized egg dividing in two–into a pair of “daughter cells,” as scientists call them–which divide in turn. You can draw our entire body as a genealogy of mother and daughter cells. And in some of the body’s lineages, genes mutate, turning us into mosaics. We’re only starting to grapple with what this genetic diversity in our bodies means for our lives. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, May 22, 2018” →

Every Cell in Your Body Has the Same DNA. Except It Doesn’t.

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The New York Times, May 21, 2018

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James Priest couldn’t make sense of it. He was examining the DNA of a desperately ill baby, searching for a genetic mutation that threatened to stop her heart. But the results looked as if they had come from two different infants.

“I was just flabbergasted,” said Dr. Priest, a pediatric cardiologist at Stanford University.

The baby, it turned out, carried a mixture of genetically distinct cells, a condition known as mosaicism. Some of her cells carried the deadly mutation, but others did not. They could have belonged to a healthy child.

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Friday’s Elk, May 12, 2018

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen
Coming to a City Near (Some of) You!

I’m excited that at long last I get to hit the road to talk about my new book, She Has Her Mother’s Laugh. The book will officially be published on May 29, and my first batch of talks has offically taken shape. While I always post a running list of talks at the end of my newsletters and on my web site, I just want to bring these book-launch events to your attention, in case you live in the area(s):

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In Ancient Skeletons, Scientists Discover a Modern Foe: Hepatitis B

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The New York Times, May 9, 2018

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Scientists reported on Wednesday that they have recovered DNA from the oldest viruses known to have infected humans — and have succeeded in resurrecting some of them in the laboratory.

The viruses were all strains of hepatitis B. Two teams of researchers independently discovered its DNA in 15 ancient skeletons, the oldest a farmer who lived 7,000 years ago in what is now Germany.

Until now, the oldest viral DNA ever recovered from human remains was just 450 years old.

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