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Readers of the science pages could be forgiven for thinking that the conversation in the cartoon on the opposite page really took place. Study after study has shown that genes can affect behavior and mental life. Identical twins separated at birth (who share their genes but not their environment) are similar in their intellectual talents, their personality traits (such as introversion, conscientiousness and antagonism), their average level of lifelong happiness and such personal quirks as giggling incessantly or flushing the toilet both before and after using it. Identical twins (who share all their genes) are more similar than fraternal twins...
INFERTILITY It has been 25 years--and a million births--since the arrival of Louise Joy Brown, the world's first test-tube baby, and you would think doctors would know by now if the procedure carried any extra risks. But only last year studies showed that babies conceived through in-vitro fertilization were more than twice as likely as naturally conceived babies to suffer major birth defects and nearly three times as likely to be born small, a significant risk factor for later cardiac and cognitive problems. It's doubtful either finding will deter many would-be parents...
...knack for picking up foreign languages. When she was 30 and Ed was just 7 months old, she was committed to a psychiatric institution with what the family later recognized as schizophrenia. When Ed was 3, his dad told him that his mother had died soon after giving birth to him. Although she actually lived until 1973--when Ed was 36--he never met her, heard her voice or kissed her cheek...
...truth. "His father wanted it to be a secret," says Ed's aunt Virginia Conrad, who eventually told Ed practically everything he knows about his mother. "There was a lot of embarrassment about it." For a while, Ed blamed himself for his mother's condition--he wondered if his birth had made her snap--but mostly he tried to banish her from his mind and go on with his life. He joined the Air Force and married his wife Velma. They had three children...
CONCEPTION TO BIRTH PRENATAL The brain and nervous system develop and form an intricate network. But genetic errors and environmental factors like fetal exposure to alcohol or drugs can make this process go awry. Some common examples...