Written in Code

Podcast Episode Summary

Genes – what are they good for? Absolutely… something. But not everything. Your “genius” genes need to be turned on – and your environment determines that. Find out how to unleash your inner-Einstein, and what scientists learned from studying the famous physicist’s brain.

Also, the bizarre notion that your children inherit not just your genes, but also the consequences of your habits – smoking, stress, diet, and other behaviors that turn the genes on.

Plus Francis Collins on affordable personal genomes, and a man who decoded his own DNA in under a week.

Guests:

• Francis Collins – Geneticist, Director of the National Institutes of Health
• David Shenk – Journalist, and author of The Genius in All of Us: Why Everything You’ve Been Told About Genetics, Talent, and IQ Is Wrong
• Stephen Quake – Biophysicist, Stanford University
• Dean Falk – Anthropologist and Senior Scholar at the School For Advanced Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico