Jonah Lehrer's tongue-in-cheek overtones belie the realities of genomics. As prices continue to plummet on DNA testing, science is able to correlate more of our outward traits with our inherited DNA. In particular, research currently suggests that we may be able to correlate athletic ability with particular genes. And even more valuable, we may soon be able to determine predispositions to sports injuries from genetic analysis. Successful athletes (and traders) already have a relative good understanding of their strengths; in athletes they are pretty much all we ever measure. However, the ability to prevent game, season, or even career ending injuries in professional sports will prove invaluable to those athletes that learn how to better take care of themselves and prevent those injuries. If only there was a gene that could make cats bounce higher post-mortem.
Dov Greenbaum JD PhD
Mark Gerstein PhD
Unpublished Letter to the Editor
Jonah Lehrer's "The Wall Street Gene" (02/04/2012)
February 4, 2012
Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204740904577193413554397928.html
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