Just a note to say that in today's New York Times, most of the science section is devoted to articles about the new view of
genes,
DNA,
RNA, and our
old friend epigenetics. Bernard Carey contributes a
feature on the speculative theories of the evolutionary biologist Bernard
Crespi and the sociolgist Christopher
Badcock, concerning the role of epigenetics in the causation of mental illness. The model depends on the
competition during early development between
genes contributed by the mother and those contributed by the father; it results in a seemingly odd classification of disorders in which
schizophrenia is the
polar opposite of
autism. In a sign of the zeitgeist, yesterday's Discover magazine also features a
detailed consideration of the "mom and dad are fighting in your genes (and
brain)" hypothesis.
