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See the original image at nature.com —

Fear is in the genes

nature.com — Fear is partly down to your genes, but this process changes as you grow older.

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  • geometry, on 04/09/2008, -15/+4I fear I'll be the first post!
  • roschler, on 04/09/2008, -13/+3Fur is in the jeans.
  • mentallyinhell, on 04/09/2008, -15/+4Who do you have to suck off to get ***** on the front page?
    Just 39 diggs and its here?
  • ihavebeenseen, on 04/09/2008, -5/+25fear is the mind killer
    • Sornos, on 04/09/2008, -1/+5Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration.
      • Prometheus, on 04/09/2008, -1/+4I will face my fear.
        • NuclearFalcon, on 04/09/2008, -1/+2I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
  • markbrown, on 04/09/2008, -11/+3That can't be true. Neither of my parents were afraid of pillowpants.

    [waits to see if anyone catches the movie reference]
  • coachmcguirk, on 04/09/2008, -10/+2False... Chuck Norris isn't afraid of anything, and he ONLY wears jeans..




    Lame joke, I know.. truth be told I don't even LIKE Chuck Norris.
    • AresDiggs, on 04/09/2008, -2/+1Actually it was funny.. then you added the last part... so i dug you down
      • coachmcguirk, on 04/09/2008, -3/+1I see...
      • ScooterG, on 04/09/2008, -1/+1Agreed. It was funny, but the apology ruined it.

        Don't be such a pussy next time.
  • yivkX360, on 04/09/2008, -1/+2I'm afraid that my genes will make me fearful. Oh wait! I just confirmed my own fear!
  • jp12380, on 04/09/2008, -1/+3Maybe things get to the front page by how fast it got the 39 diggs and not the amount.
    • smotpoker, on 04/09/2008, -0/+1I haven't actually looked up the digg algorithm, but I believe it is a calculation based on total number of submissions to a given section, how fast given submissions are dugg and how many diggs the other submissions in that session have in relation to each other
  • cobbwobbles, on 04/09/2008, -1/+5Keep in mind with all these 'its in the genes' stories, having smaller hands is in the genes too, doesn't mean you can't play piano. Just because you have a slight disadvantage doesn't mean you can't learn to overcome it.
    • baralo, on 04/09/2008, -0/+1...and twin studies have their own host of confounds. The epi-genetics are vast and mostly beyond our comprehension at this point. Regardless, it is interesting, if preliminary, research.
  • futureisours, on 04/09/2008, -1/+4uhh that was an interesting article about nothing.
    • stonewaljacksn, on 04/09/2008, -1/+1"what we thought before, was wrong. we don't really know what any of this stuff means, but we know that like, we might have to change how we like...do something about fear"
  • daxsymbiont, on 04/09/2008, -1/+3I pitty those that see fear as something inherently bad. It's protection from danger you raving lunatics.
  • smacksaw, on 04/09/2008, -10/+1I guess being a Republican is genetic.

    "SCREW YOU SMACKSAW I AINT A-FEARED A NUTHIN I GOTS MAH GUNS AND NOW IMMA DIGG YOU DOWN."

    If it makes you feel any better, new studies show that the heart defect of excessive bleeding is also genetic, explaining Democrats as well.
    • SemiSarcastic, on 04/09/2008, -3/+3*nods* Republican jokes are always funny.
    • ColonelJessup, on 04/09/2008, -1/+1The ***** does that have to do with anything?
      • smacksaw, on 04/09/2008, -0/+2Not to make an un-funny joke even less funny by explaining it, but Republicans feel safe because of their guns and like to put everyone in jail and execute them. Basically it's because they're afraid of everyone and everything.
  • roschler, on 04/09/2008, -0/+4On the serious side, I don't see how they filtered out from the study similar fear reactions in the twins due to them talking to each other, even from geographically separate locations, or perhaps due to shared traumatic experiences that occurred when they were growing up.
    • gudnbluts, on 04/09/2008, -0/+1Twin studies compare identical twins with fraternal ones. The point is that each type of twin will have the same nurture, but the indentical twins have almost identical DNA. This means that differences in environment are ruled out. For example:- You might take identical twins who like Marmite, and find that 70% of their twins also like Marmite. then you look at non-identical twins (fraternal twins) and find that when one twin likes marmite, the other twin is only 20% likely to like Marmite, you can see that there must be some genetic component to liking Marmite, as each pair is brought up together.
  • SemiSarcastic, on 04/09/2008, -1/+3I have a fear of articles talking about things most people know more or less about already.
  • EvilMoose, on 04/09/2008, -2/+2Mirror: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynjIoymWHvU
    Just in case nature.com goes down
  • almightyzam, on 04/09/2008, -4/+1Chuck Norris has no genes...
  • roschler, on 04/09/2008, -0/+2A new disturbing study has just been released that shows that studies are indeed disturbing.
  • buughost, on 04/09/2008, -2/+4pretty sure i have cotton in my genes.... hahah......


    but in all seriousness, developmental behavioral science is so far from really being science i really don't feel like this has any merrit.
  • Ouchimoo, on 04/09/2008, -0/+1hmm. When I was young I wasn't noticeably afraid of anything. Then during adolecence I'd get strange terrors of really bizarre things: Fear of heights when I was on a foot high step stool, a sudden fear of snakes, then the sight of blood made me nauseous. Stuff that previously hadn't bothered me the slightest. It was really ***** up.
  • junebeezy, on 04/09/2008, -2/+2Docotors have it made - all they do is do stupid studies - cure absolutely nothing - and instill fear within the middle class so they go out buy the drugs the governement is paying these bastards to pay. I hate doctors!

    http://www.vancouvercigar.com
    • madfrogurt, on 04/09/2008, -0/+3A tobacco salesman saying doctors are conspiring to sell people addictive drugs contrary to their health. It's so hypocritical that it might be postmodernist art.
  • frogman54, on 04/09/2008, -0/+5I fear nothing...except spiders...and snakes...most bugs...cats...dogs...hippopotamuses... the color blue... commitment... attractive females ...men with handlebar mustaches ...clowns ...evil clowns ...people from Sweden ...plastic wrap ...aliens ...aliens covered in plastic wrap ...and cheese that is possibly spoiled. Other than that...no fear whatsoever. Oh...heights. Forgot about heights.
  • jessiepoohky, on 04/09/2008, -3/+1Firstly, fear is a conscious reaction to external events and/or internal beliefs.
    To say fear is genetic is to say that finding something funny is genetic.
    The disappointment of the web is in the fact that anyone can write anything and with enough(controlled) exposure of inane articles and beliefs that make no logical sense.

    As long as the masses are spoon fed a pile of nonsensical biased feed of how the forces at be wish to influence the general population, then it's just another form of control. As long as you can have your plasma TV, your YouTube and your credit cards/debt potential, you will believe anything Digg or any other source of control wishes to expose you too.

    This isn't a new form of control, the web is just the new weapon in the arsenal of control. While the web has so much to offer, potential wise to bring people together to form groups of potential power it actually does the opposite which is to alienate the individual.

    Fear isn't genetic...........fear is just another form of control......like the word Muslim or bomb, they are simply words, but look at the reaction they invoke. Fear in it's simplest form is self preservation, in it's dramatic form it is control, but it's hardly genetic.

    Here endth the lesson...........
    • gudnbluts, on 04/09/2008, -1/+0Yet this study shows your opinion is wrong. Who to believe - somebody randomly ranting in a forum, stating that fear is conscious, or a large twin study? It's tricky.
  • ColonelJessup, on 04/09/2008, -2/+1I'm 80, and do you know what scares me the most?

    EVERYTHING!
  • ElBeh, on 04/09/2008, -3/+2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amygdala

    Fears are hardly genetic.
    • gudnbluts, on 04/09/2008, -0/+2Some fears are leaned. The article even states that. It doesn't mean others aren't genetic.
  • WhistlinTom, on 04/09/2008, -2/+1fear is in the jeans.
  • dho331, on 04/09/2008, -3/+0My fear is actually in my brain, but then again my head's up my ass so if you look at it that way you're right.
  • dudad, on 04/09/2008, -0/+1Fear is in the genes? It sounds like an undergrad senior project, not something that a professor should have done.
    Of course fear is in the genes! Of course as we get older we become afraid of different things!
    To say fear is useless, not genetic, is idiotic at best. We NEED fear. Got that? If I wasn't afraid of hurting myself, I'd hurt myself! A lot! I'd embarrass myself, a lot! Fear protects us. That's why fear is in the genes.
  • jKeats64, on 04/09/2008, -3/+2Fear will destroy your life. Cut it out.
  • Dbeneath, on 04/09/2008, -0/+1I'm afraid of talking about things i'm afraid of. In some ways i'm afraid of women and little children.
  • oep4, on 04/09/2008, -1/+1BURIED because this article (AND TITLE) insinuates, and reinforces the false ideology, that GENES directly influence behavior.
  • tuqqer, on 04/09/2008, -1/+1Nothing is your fault.
  • BriscoeJr, on 04/09/2008, -2/+0No Fear™
  • baconz, on 04/09/2008, -0/+2The article needed more pics of hawt swedish twins. Otherwise, it was an interesting read.
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