"our inability to define anything even resembling deterministic causal mechanisms underlying heritability coefficients places strict limitations on their application in the real world, or on our theoretical accounts of how human inequality (in the nonpejorative evolutionary sense) comes to be"
Blog post: A Missing Heritability Update. Three legs and other problems. I follow up on the recent excellent post on the subject by @sashagusevposts.bsky.social. ericturkheimer.substack.com/p/missing-he...
Missing Heritability Revisited
Following up on Sasha
ericturkheimer.substack.com
November 26, 2025 at 12:34 AM
"our inability to define anything even resembling deterministic causal mechanisms underlying heritability coefficients places strict limitations on their application in the real world, or on our theoretical accounts of how human inequality (in the nonpejorative evolutionary sense) comes to be"
"The failure to reckon with confounding fuels misinterpretation of genetics research and impedes scientific progress. We are therefore concerned that a publishing culture which rewards sensationalism may instead promote a decline in standards"
If you've ever rolled your eyes about research claiming that complex traits (from chocolate preference to socioeconomic status) have simple genetic explanations, check out this great paper from @jbenning.bsky.social @jedidiahcarlson.com @oliviarxiv.bsky.social Ruth Shaw @arbelharpak.bsky.social 🧪🧬
Confounding fuels misinterpretation in human genetics | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
The scientific literature has seen a resurgence of interest in genetic influences on human behaviour and socioeconomic outcomes. Such studies face the central difficulty of distinguishing possible causal influences, in particular genetic and non-genetic ...
royalsocietypublishing.org
November 7, 2025 at 12:10 AM
"The failure to reckon with confounding fuels misinterpretation of genetics research and impedes scientific progress. We are therefore concerned that a publishing culture which rewards sensationalism may instead promote a decline in standards"
"The more we have learned about the specifics of DNA associated with intelligence, the further away that goal has receded"
www.theatlantic.com/science/2025...
www.theatlantic.com/science/2025...
Your Genes Are Simply Not Enough to Explain How Smart You Are
Seven years ago, I took a bet with Charles Murray about whether we’d basically understand the genetics of intelligence by now.
www.theatlantic.com
October 13, 2025 at 7:47 PM
"The more we have learned about the specifics of DNA associated with intelligence, the further away that goal has receded"
www.theatlantic.com/science/2025...
www.theatlantic.com/science/2025...
"By analyzing data from more than one million Danish children, we found absolutely no indication that the very small amount of aluminum used in the childhood vaccination program increases the risk of 50 different health outcomes during childhood"
en.ssi.dk/news/news/20...
en.ssi.dk/news/news/20...
Large Danish Study: No link between vaccines and autism or 49 other health conditions
A new Danish study finds no association between aluminum in childhood vaccines and 50 different health conditions, including autism, asthma, and autoimmune diseases. The findings reaffirm the safety o...
en.ssi.dk
August 11, 2025 at 8:49 PM
"By analyzing data from more than one million Danish children, we found absolutely no indication that the very small amount of aluminum used in the childhood vaccination program increases the risk of 50 different health outcomes during childhood"
en.ssi.dk/news/news/20...
en.ssi.dk/news/news/20...
Reposted by CMc
New blog post: The New Eugenics Companies
(Oops, I meant to say generational health and embryo selection)
(Oops, I meant to say generational health and embryo selection)
The New Eugenics Companies
Oops, I meant to say generational health and embryo selection
ericturkheimer.substack.com
August 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
New blog post: The New Eugenics Companies
(Oops, I meant to say generational health and embryo selection)
(Oops, I meant to say generational health and embryo selection)
Reposted by CMc
My new piece for @science.org is about safety, technology and how we can't automate governance. A quick thread... 🧵 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Governance can’t be automated
On the corners of the Holborn viaduct in central London, there are four statues: Commerce, Agriculture, Fine Art, and Science. The figure representing Science looks like she should be in Ancient Greec...
www.science.org
April 25, 2025 at 8:43 AM
My new piece for @science.org is about safety, technology and how we can't automate governance. A quick thread... 🧵 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by CMc
Finally read this by @sashagusevposts.bsky.social - very interesting piece. There's some fascinating bit of sociology of science to be done on when things get counted as replication crises versus when they're seen as healthy methodological progress.
theinfinitesimal.substack.com/p/how-popula...
theinfinitesimal.substack.com/p/how-popula...
How population stratification led to a decade of sensationally false genetic findings
Stratification makes environments look like genes
theinfinitesimal.substack.com
April 2, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Finally read this by @sashagusevposts.bsky.social - very interesting piece. There's some fascinating bit of sociology of science to be done on when things get counted as replication crises versus when they're seen as healthy methodological progress.
theinfinitesimal.substack.com/p/how-popula...
theinfinitesimal.substack.com/p/how-popula...
Reposted by CMc
My interview with the indispensable @awaisaftab.bsky.social has been published. Challenging questions, gave me a lot of ideas to chew on. Got me thinking about how different the scientific politics of individual differences (like IQ) are from psychiatric genetics.
The Unbearable Incoherence of Heritability: Interview with Eric Turkheimer
Eric Turkheimer is Hugh Scott Hamilton Professor of Psychology at University of Virginia.
www.psychiatrymargins.com
January 19, 2025 at 2:17 PM
My interview with the indispensable @awaisaftab.bsky.social has been published. Challenging questions, gave me a lot of ideas to chew on. Got me thinking about how different the scientific politics of individual differences (like IQ) are from psychiatric genetics.
Reposted by CMc
Headline figure
January 18, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Headline figure
Reposted by CMc
A breath of fresh air to read a good opinion piece in a major newspaper www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Trump and Musk are obsessed with genetics – but there’s no science behind their simplistic views | Jonathan Roberts
The US right is misrepresenting science to support its racist agenda. There’s far more to it than ‘good’ or ‘bad’ genes, says genetic counsellor Jonathan Roberts
www.theguardian.com
December 31, 2024 at 3:05 PM
A breath of fresh air to read a good opinion piece in a major newspaper www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by CMc
In a new paper Matthews, Tabery, & @ent3c.bsky.social articulate a value-harm trade off framework to distinguish controversial from abhorrent science. Concluding: "genomic race science is not just controversial science but, rather, abhorrent science... because it is both valueless and harmful."
How to Diagnose Abhorrent Science
What makes certain scientific research controversial? And when does scientific research go beyond being merely controversial to be something far worse? We propose a diagnostic framework for distingui...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
December 26, 2024 at 5:51 PM
In a new paper Matthews, Tabery, & @ent3c.bsky.social articulate a value-harm trade off framework to distinguish controversial from abhorrent science. Concluding: "genomic race science is not just controversial science but, rather, abhorrent science... because it is both valueless and harmful."
Reposted by CMc
A lovely essay and review of my book by Erik Parens, of the @hastingscenter.bsky.social. Erik disagrees, gently, with the basis for my pessimism about the prospects for genetic explanation of human differences. /1
Is Human Agency in Danger of Being Drowned by Genetic Determinism?
Erik Parens, PhD is a Senior Research Scholar at The Hastings Center and director of its Initiative in Bioethics and the Humanities.
elsihub.org
December 17, 2024 at 1:58 PM
A lovely essay and review of my book by Erik Parens, of the @hastingscenter.bsky.social. Erik disagrees, gently, with the basis for my pessimism about the prospects for genetic explanation of human differences. /1
Reposted by CMc
Why putting simple stories over solid science can lead us astray – my post from earlier this week: kucharski.substack.com/p/the-real-r...
November 7, 2024 at 6:52 PM
Why putting simple stories over solid science can lead us astray – my post from earlier this week: kucharski.substack.com/p/the-real-r...
“I think we’ve sometimes slipped into a shallow compliance culture, where you see people being told what to do down to the degree of the slide stack we’re going to use in every lesson.” schoolsweek.co.uk/academy-free...
November 7, 2024 at 11:44 PM
“I think we’ve sometimes slipped into a shallow compliance culture, where you see people being told what to do down to the degree of the slide stack we’re going to use in every lesson.” schoolsweek.co.uk/academy-free...
Review of Paige Harden 'Genetic Lottery'
thebiologist.rsb.org.uk/biologist-bo...
thebiologist.rsb.org.uk/biologist-bo...
The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality
Kathryn Paige HardenPrinceton University Press, £25.00
Do genetic differences impact upon social outcomes and complex human behaviour? Should policy-makers pay more attention to genetic research? Thes...
thebiologist.rsb.org.uk
November 6, 2024 at 10:05 PM
Review of Paige Harden 'Genetic Lottery'
thebiologist.rsb.org.uk/biologist-bo...
thebiologist.rsb.org.uk/biologist-bo...
Review of Ken Richardson 'Understanding Intelligence '
thebiologist.rsb.org.uk/biologist-bo...
thebiologist.rsb.org.uk/biologist-bo...
Understanding Intelligence
Ken Richardson Cambridge University Press, £11.99
Is intelligence caused by genes or environment? Or both? Can we even meaningfully talk about what intelligence is or measure it precisely? These are ...
thebiologist.rsb.org.uk
November 6, 2024 at 10:03 PM
Review of Ken Richardson 'Understanding Intelligence '
thebiologist.rsb.org.uk/biologist-bo...
thebiologist.rsb.org.uk/biologist-bo...
Reposted by CMc
With @kph3k.bsky.social (Paige Harden) I have a comment on an execrable paper by Rindermann et al, about the IQs of recent immigrants to Germany. Blog post and link to article below. More to come.
ericturkheimer.substack.com/p/immigratio...
journalofcontroversialideas.org/article/4/2/...
ericturkheimer.substack.com/p/immigratio...
journalofcontroversialideas.org/article/4/2/...
Controversy Requires Competence: Comment on Rindermann et al. (2024)
Rindermann, Klauk, and Thompson (2024) purport to give evidence regarding the determinants of intelligence test scores among refugees who have immigrated to Germany from different countries of origin,...
journalofcontroversialideas.org
October 31, 2024 at 5:58 PM
With @kph3k.bsky.social (Paige Harden) I have a comment on an execrable paper by Rindermann et al, about the IQs of recent immigrants to Germany. Blog post and link to article below. More to come.
ericturkheimer.substack.com/p/immigratio...
journalofcontroversialideas.org/article/4/2/...
ericturkheimer.substack.com/p/immigratio...
journalofcontroversialideas.org/article/4/2/...
Reposted by CMc
A recording of my recent Free Will debate with Robert Sapolsky: video.ucdavis.edu/media/Explor...
Exploring the Mind Lecture Series- Mitchell & Sapolsky Debate "Do We Have Free Will?"
video.ucdavis.edu
October 30, 2024 at 5:50 PM
A recording of my recent Free Will debate with Robert Sapolsky: video.ucdavis.edu/media/Explor...
"computers are used to play our games; they are engineered to make moves in the spaces opened up by our concerns. They don’t have concerns of their own, and they make no new games"
aeon.co/essays/can-c...
aeon.co/essays/can-c...
Can computers think? No. They can’t actually do anything | Aeon Essays
For all the promise and dangers of AI, computers plainly can’t think. To think is to resist – something no machine does
aeon.co
October 29, 2024 at 3:44 PM
"computers are used to play our games; they are engineered to make moves in the spaces opened up by our concerns. They don’t have concerns of their own, and they make no new games"
aeon.co/essays/can-c...
aeon.co/essays/can-c...
Reposted by CMc
Some thoughts about the roots of the crisis in SEND provision in England: funding is up, successful claims are up, yet outcomes are worse. It's a good example of an understated Brexit dividend, I think:
The root of the crisis in special needs education
Since legislative changes in 2014, governments have failed to adapt this area of public policy as autism diagnoses increase
www.ft.com
October 22, 2024 at 2:11 PM
Some thoughts about the roots of the crisis in SEND provision in England: funding is up, successful claims are up, yet outcomes are worse. It's a good example of an understated Brexit dividend, I think: