The Jim twins were just one of 137 sets of separated twins Bouchard tested. When they compared the twins' IQ scores, Bouchard and his team reached a surprising conclusion.
They concluded that intelligence was mostly connected to genes rather than to training or education. It seemed the differences in family and environment had little effect.
However, genes can't control everything, argues geneticist Danielle Reed, who also studies twins.
Reed's research shows that though nothing can truly change our DNA, environmental differences that a child experiences before birth and in their first year can sometimes affect the way the DNA behaves, making even identical twins into very different people.
"What l like to say is that Mother Nature writes some things in peneil and some things in pen," she explains. Things written in pen you can't change. That's DNA. But things written in pencil you can.
The Jim twins are just one of 137 pairs of isolated twins tested by Bouchard. When they compared the twins' IQ scores, Bouchard and his team came to a surprising conclusion.
They concluded that intelligence was primarily related to genes, not to training or education. Differences in family and environment don't seem to have much effect.
However, Danielle Reid, a geneticist who also studies twins, argues that genes can't control everything.
Reed's research shows that while nothing can really change our DNA, the environmental differences that children experience before and during the first year of life can sometimes affect how DNA behaves, even making identical twins very different people.
"What I'm trying to say is that Mother Nature writes something with a pencil and also writes something with a pen," she explains. What you write with a pen cannot be changed. This is DNA. But write something with a pencil you can.
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