Nature versus Nurture? No, Nature AND Nurture

  A New York Times article from March 13, 2025, introduces a new field of biology, sociogenomics. The author argues that the nature of our genes and the environment in which we are raised both impact who we are. Although Dr. Dalton Conley states that sociogenomics is a field in its infancy, he presents multiple studies that show the interaction between nature and nurture. Specifically, he mentions a genetic test that can predict what types of activities a child will exceed and whether they will have any genetic conditions. He and his wife attempted to get IVF treatment and he asked the doctor to perform this test on the embryos. The doctor refused and Dr. Conley was eventually grateful because the couple had a child naturally without having any expectations about their baby’s strengths and weaknesses. However, Dr. Conley mentions a couple who proceeded with the PGT-P test and had the world’s first preimplantation genetically screened child who is supposed to be less likely to develop any genetic diseases throughout her life. The field of sociogenomics would probably argue that a genetic test will not prevent any “bad” from occurring to this child as the girl is still subject to environmental factors that could cause disease. For example, Dr. Conley presents data that one smoker in a high school class could influence many other students to start smoking regardless of whether they personally knew the original student. 

    I think PGT-P tests could be beneficial when considering genetic diseases that lead to a poor quality of life, but inevitably some parents are going to choose cosmetic genes rather than considering the health of their child. I imagine the field of sociogenomics will only grow with epigenetic studies and other research that takes into account environmental factors while also recording genetic sequences. I am intrigued to see how the first PGT-P child will age and if she develops any condition that the test said she shouldn’t. Overall, I found it interesting to learn about a new field of biology that will hopefully expand and make new discoveries in the broader field of genetics.

Links

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/13/opinion/genetics-nature-nurture-sociogenomics.html

https://www.wired.com/story/genetic-screening-ivf-healthiest-embryos/

The study of how genetics shapes society.

Robbie Wedow is an assistant professor and data scientist in the College of Liberal Arts at Purdue University. He uses genetic databases to study the interaction of genetic and social forces with the environment. According to Wedow, it is important to understand that these genes have absolutely no control over a person’s life or future. Each SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) has little effect on broader outcomes, such as educational attainment. The goal is to use a genetic approach to gain a better understanding of the complexity of human behavior. “Sociogenomics isn’t necessarily about biology, like some might think,” Wedow said. “When someone studies cancer genetics, they are studying it because they want to elucidate the biology of cancer; they want to figure out ways to better diagnose it, track it, and treat it. But researchers in the field of sociogenomics want to study genetics in order to do better social science. No one would ever study sociology without considering socioeconomic status and environment. We want to be able to take genetics into account in the same way."

But how will utilizing genetics help the field of sociology? Wedow and co-author Andrea Ganna of the University of Helsinki conducted a study that examined 109 survey questions to find out how people’s genes related to their responses. This addresses a longstanding challenge faced by the field of sociology, providing valuable insights that have eluded researchers for many years.