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Science & Technology Biology Education genetics

There is no intelligence gene… singular

IQ is genetically inherited. It’s best for children—and parents—that we admit it

By Philip Ball  
March 16, 2016

A display representing a DNA sequence at the Science Museum, London. ©John Goode

Read more by Philip Ball: Will gravitational waves help us discover cosmic strings? 

Psychologist Oliver James’s claim, in his new book Not In Your Genes, that personality traits such as intelligence are not genetically inherited has been widely and rightly denounced by scientists. It is flatly contradicted by an abundance of hard data, which shows for example that IQ may have as much as 80%…

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Philip Ball

Philip Ball is a science writer

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