It’s a Small World After All

            An international team of researchers conducted a study linking the height of individuals, especially children, with the excess number of rare deletions, or missing copies of specific genes. According to the study, published in the December issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics, studying more than 11,000 children showed that the shortest 2.5 percent of the group had the rare deletions or missing copies of specific genes. One of the goals of this study was to try to figure the underlying genetics of height, as well as other phenotypes that are not studied as well. According to the article, since many of the children that provided the DNA had provided it initially for other reasons such as autism, the researchers did say that many of the results may be affected by other genetic variables. However, it is an interesting for a better understanding of the general population and start to explore genetics that are less studied.