Scientists suggest that the migration-linked genetic variants may be the cause of some people moving away from their birthplace. These variants are mainly found during brain development in active excitatory neurons. The article talks about the inheritance of moving away from a person’s birthplace- known as the “wanderlust” gene. A neurogeneticist conducted a study at the University of Iowa, analyzing data from 250,000 individuals in the United Kingdom. He found that those who moved farther away from their original home shared similar gene variants. These findings were then compared to DNA from over 10,000 years ago from 1,300 different people. Through this comparison, the same genetic variants found today were the same ones that predicted migration patterns in people from over a thousand years ago. Over time, the frequency of this variant has increased, suggesting that natural selection has favored movement as humans continue to grow. This genetic variant has effects that translate into a person’s life. Those with this variant are more likely to see faster income growth and have “risk-taking” thought processes.
Picture/Article: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/wanderlust-dna-brain-development
Second Article: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.05.703995v1.full
I wonder how the scientists determined that this gene was related to "risk-taking" processes rather than just environmental factors influencing the risks one may take. It would be interesting to evaluate the accuracy of this data.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me wonder how much of that is actually genetic versus other factors, like just not liking where you grew up or wanting a different environment. I also thought it was cool because it kind of made me think of my own family, since a lot of us have either moved far away or have always wanted to.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really neat study and finding. If this gene is in humans, I wonder if this same sort of concept is also present in non-human organisms. Maybe some species have evolved to spread out from their birthplace due to territorial reasons, or migration ones? Neat post.
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