Word: traits
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...would adhd have evolved in the first place? Perhaps, like the sickle-cell trait, which can help thwart malaria, attention deficit confers an advantage in certain circumstances. In Attention Deficit Disorder: A Different Perception, author Thom Hartmann has laid out a controversial but appealing theory that the characteristics known today as adhd were vitally important in early hunting societies. They became a mixed blessing only when human societies turned agrarian, Hartmann suggests. "If you are walking in the night and see a little flash, distractibility would be a tremendous asset. Snap decision making, which we call impulsiveness, is a survival...
...maternal alcohol or tobacco consumption may play a role in less than 10% of cases. Suspicions that a diet high in sugar might cause hyperactivity have been discounted. But the influence of genes is unmistakable. Barkley estimates that 40% of adhd kids have a parent who has the trait and 35% have a sibling with the problem; if the sibling is an identical twin, the chances rise to between...
Behind all these products is the same basic technology. A new gene is introduced (or an existing gene is suppressed) in a tissue culture in the hope that any resulting plants or animals will gain (or lose) the trait in question. Conventional plant and animal breeders might get the same outcome, but they often have to wait for several generations to mature and reproduce, and their techniques are more hit and miss. In the case of Calgene's new product, scientists zeroed in on a gene associated with an enzyme that makes the tomato rot. Then they reversed the effects...
According to Queenan's analysis, Jett's love of Nietzsche reveals a "glaring dysfunctional personality trait" which indicates "colossal dishonesty." In Queenan's philosophy-free world, Nietzsche is "the deranged proto-Nazi most celebrated for the theory...that the Supermen will one day rule the world." After a couple of selective quotes, Queenan's point becomes clear: anyone sick enough to read Nietzsche must be a lying thief...
Admittedly, not even the most rabid sociobiologists contend that babies pop out of the womb with a thirst for bank robbing. Rather, they say, a constellation of influences leads to a life of crime, among them poverty, maleness and a trait known as "impulsivity," presumably caused by bad brain chemistry, caused in turn by bad genes. What, you may ask, is impulsivity? The standard answer tends to involve people who can't control their emotions or who get into bar fights. A study conducted in Finland found that men so characterized tend to be deficient in the brain hormone serotonin...