My column last week was about a brilliant study that some Canadian researchers just published in PLoS Biology. By studying the way fruit flies pass on “fitness” (ie, ability to reproduce plentifully) to their children, they discovered that some genes are only good for one sex. A gene that promotes fitness in a father produces daughters who reproduce far less than average. Same goes for fit mothers — their sons are also unfit. Contrary to popular belief, mating with a very fit person of the opposite sex may not be good for your future children.

This is comforting for many of us, though. If humans are anything like fruitflies, this research confirms my feeling that all those dudes with trophy wives and ladies with himbo arm candy are about to get totally screwed out of the gene pool.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 15th, 2006 at 12:15 pm.
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