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Paper illustrates the (frequently dismal) ability of Genome Wide Association Studies to find causes for overall medical traits. biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.13.200030v5Permalink On twitter.com
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For most such traits, little of significance is found (purple on last graph), but ironically it's easier to detect heritability in more socially homogenous samples, since social effects are smaller.Permalink On twitter.com
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All this assumes that there are meaningful underlying genetic causes, something that is sometimes questionable and other times probably just false.Permalink On twitter.com
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The paper spends a fair amount of time reinforcing the doubts raised about genetic studies of "years of educational attainment," an overwhelmingly socially mediated trait.Permalink On twitter.com
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The same genes that seem to increase educational attainment in one regional population have no effect in another, suggesting that the effect may be spurious / bogus.Permalink On twitter.com
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Social and confounding noise dominates genetic signal in genetic studies where the output is distantly (at best) related to genes.Permalink On twitter.com
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We know this, but the allure of a genetic basis for social success (which is what these "educational attainment" studies offer, at an emotional level) is irresistible to many.On twitter.com
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This search is geneticists' analogue of the perpetual motion machine for early physicists. Funders need to stop throwing money at this quest.Permalink On twitter.com