thanks mom!

i was listening to chico and delamar this morning, their topic was top 10 sexist comments you've heard/received. del (close kami) commented that she read somewhere that a big percent of an offsping's intelligence comes from the mother. curious about it, i looked it up on the net when i got here at the office.

from http://www2.cedarcrest.edu/academic/writing/intelligence/nempage1.htm

Intelligence is not only affected by simple heredity, such as dominant and recessive alleles, multiple allele combinations, or sex-linkage, but it was recently discovered that imprinted genes also contribute a great deal to an individual's intellect. Imprinted genes are different from ordinary genes that are inherited from both the mother and father. In regard to ordinary genes, it is impossible to determine which gene was inherited from each parent. On the other hand, "Imprinted genes are different. They carry a biochemical label that reveals their parental origin and determines whether or not they are active inside the cells of the offspring" (Vines 34). Research has shown that "some imprinted genes work only if they come from the mother. The same gene is silenced if it is inherited via the sperm, rather than the egg. Other imprinted genes operate the other way round and are only switched on if they are inherited from the father" (Vines 34).

Some breakthrough research has suggested that imprinted genes have an integral role in the inheritance of intelligence. The investigation suggests that the "mother's genes play the dominant role in the development of the parts of her offsprings' brains that are responsible for intelligence. The father's genes, on the other hand, may shape ... the parts of their brains that influence emotional make-up" (Vines 34). Although research continues to find out more about the imprinted genes that influence intelligence, one preliminary hypothesis is that the "mother's genes make the biggest contribution to the part of the brain that society values most - the cortex" (Vines 38), which is the portion of the brain that is responsible for intellectual skills such as language and the ability to plan ahead.

so i want to thank my mom for giving me this brain. :)
go and thank yours too.