This study focuses on everyday or lay understandings of inheritance. In the northeastern Brazil, 100 individuals were interviewed in order to describe how they explain the origin of genetic disorders affecting their relatives for several generations. There were involved 60 individuals from a large consanguineous family with many members affected…

Genetics is often a fascinating but difficult subject for middle level students. They can see the results of genes in every organism, but trying to visualize what happens at the level of genes is challenging for concrete thinkers. The author discusses an approach that helps students understand how genotypes can translate into phenotypes, then…

The yeast "Saccharomyces cerevisiae" has been used by human beings since ancient times for its ability to convert sugar to alcohol. Continual exposure to glucose in the natural environment for innumerable generations has probably enabled "S. cerevisiae" to grow in fermentative mode on sugars by switching off the genes responsible for respiration…

A two-session laboratory exercise for advanced undergraduate students in biochemistry and molecular biology is described. The first session introduces students to DNA quantification by ultraviolet absorbance and agarose gel electrophoresis followed by ethidium bromide staining. The second session involves treatment of various topological forms of…

Teaching methods of genetic analysis such as fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) can be an important part of instructional units in biology, microbiology, and biotechnology. Experience, however, indicates that these topics are difficult for many students. The authors of this article describe how they created an activity that effectively…

Background: Tuberous sclerosis (TS) is a multi- system disorder with complex genetics. The neurodevelopmental manifestations of TS are responsible for considerable morbidity. The prevalence of epilepsy and intellectual disabilities among individuals with TS have been well described. Ours is the first study that explores the prevalence and pattern…

Background: Research into the excessive eating behaviour associated with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) to date has focused on homeostatic and behavioural investigations. The aim of this study was to examine the role of the reward system in such eating behaviour, in terms of both the pattern of food preferences and the neural substrates of incentive…

The results of a structured interview with members of a southeastern American Indian tribe on attitudes about disabilities and experiences with people with disabilities are reported. For nearly a century and a half, members of this tribe lived an isolated existence, resulting in the development of a rare recessive genetic disorder,…

Black women with a family history of breast cancer are much less likely than Whites to get genetic counseling, in part because of the mistaken notion that the genetic form of the illness is a White woman's disease, researchers say. While breast cancer generally is more common among White women, some data suggest both races have similar rates of…

The contentious nature-nurture debate in developmental psychology is poised to reach a rapprochement with contemporary concepts of gene-environment interaction, transaction, and fit. Discoveries over the past decade have revealed how neither genes nor the environment offers a sufficient window into human development. Rather, the most important…

Environmental and genetic explanations have been given for Black-White racial differences in intelligence and other traits. In science, viable, alternative hypotheses are ideally given equal Bayesian prior weights; but this has not been true in the study of racial differences. This article advocates testing environmental and genetic hypotheses of…

Because there are so many chance factors that potentially affect the psychological development of gifted students, the outhor has sorted them into categories. For example, there are genetic, lifestyle, environmental, overarching vs. instance, experiential, and coincidental chance factors. To do justice to this topic, a series of columns will focus…

The genetic and environmental etiologies of sex-typed behavior were examined during the preschool years in a sample of 3,990 three- to four-year-old twin and nontwin sibling pairs. Results showed moderate genetic and significant shared environmental influence for boys and substantial genetic and moderate shared environmental influence for girls.…

Although it is well established that school characteristics (SCH) and socio-economic status (SES) are associated with academic achievement (ACH), these correlations are not necessarily causal. Because academic achievement shows substantial genetic influence, it is useful to embed such investigations in genetically sensitive designs in order to…

This speech by a researcher into the genetic bases of dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and their etiological overlap, first honors four pioneers in the field (Samuel Orton, Bertil Hallgren, Isabelle Liberman, and Norman Geschwind); then updates knowledge about the genetics of dyslexia and comorbidity with ADHD and certain…