The Ed's Up #190

"It's now thought that complex traits—whether a physical characteristic like height or weight, or the risk of a disease like cancer or schizophrenia—are the work of thousands of genetic variants, with weak effects, working in concert. But Evan Boyle, Yang Li, and Jonathan Pritchard from Stanford University think that this framework doesn’t go far enough. They note that researchers often assume that those thousands of weakly-acting genetic variants will all cluster together in relevant genes. For example, you might expect that height-associated variants will affect genes that control the growth of bones. And yes, there will be “core genes” that follow this pattern. But genes don’t work in isolation. They influence each other in large networks, so that “if a variant changes any one gene, it could change an entire gene network,” says Boyle. He believes that these networks are so thoroughly interconnected that every gene is just a few degrees of separation away from every other. Which means that changes in basically any gene will ripple inwards to affect the core genes for a particular trait."

Which Animal Murders the Most?

A Tiny Tweak to Gut Bacteria Can Extend an Animal’s Life

More good reads: science and technology

• “People who claim we’re in the sixth mass extinction don’t understand enough about mass extinctions.” Peter Brannen makes the case for why we are not in the middle of a sixth extinction. (A lot of wildlife is still screwed, but we have a chance to save it.) Also I highly recommend buying a copy of Peter’s book The Ends of the World. It’s out this week.
• “Frustrated by the failures in his field, Tom Insel, a former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, is now trying to reduce the world’s anguish through the devices in people’s pockets.” By David Dobbs
• Emily Graslie visiting the World Taxidermy Championships is pure joy.
• I talk to wonderful geneticist Eric Topol about writing, science journalism, microbes and more.
• This is an amazing story about how one scientific paper can be blown out of all proportion with horrible consequences—in this case, for the rays of Chesapeake Bay. By Jared Lloyd
• Can trophy hunting ever help to conserve a species? Jason Goldman tackles this tough topic by travelling to Tajikistan, and hanging out with some goats and snow leopards.
• “Decaying turtle or vulture vomit? Here are the worst smells in the world, according to scientists.”
• How a government-sponsored cull turned the Japanese badger into an endangered species
• “A one-paragraph blurb helped cause the opioid crisis.” Dan Engber on how bad citations can be deadly.
• How an AI developed its own non-human language. By Adrienne LaFrance
• There is no such thing as an evolution-proof drug, says Tara Smith
• A new court ruling marks and important (but far from complete) victory for the Standing Rock Sioux in the Dakota Access Pipeline case.
• What would it take to get faster wi-fi on planes? Actually, quite a lot, and for interesting reasons, writes Alexis Madrigal
• And finally… A wonderful competition to design the worst user interface for a volume slider

More good reads: politics and society

• “Why do we care about how these people live only when tragedy erupts into the public psyche?” The burning of Grenfell Tower was a “monstrous crime”, writes David Lammy. Meanwhile, Gabby Hinsliff writes that Grenfell marks a Katrina-esque turning point for Britain, while Adam Rogers writes about why fighting high-rise fires is still so difficult
• Trump reportedly considered firing Robert Mueller, the special counsel appointed to investigate possible collusion between his campaign and Russia. Mueller, incidentally, is also investigating Trump himself for obstruction of justice. Here’s an explainer about the three prongs of that investigation.
• "Memo to the president: You’re losing this game because you don’t understand its rules." Yoni Appelbaum writes that Trump is failing as a President for similar reasons that he failed as a businessman. (Also, delightfully, a brief history of the memo.)
• "Equivocating on these matters furthers the sin of racism even to violence and death." Emma Green on why a Southern Baptist convention found it so hard to outrightly condemn white supremacy.
• The GOP are still trying to stealthily repeal Obamacare. Current plan: don’t let anyone see the bill.
• Environmental racism is the new Jim Crow, segregating black people through the quality of their air and water
• And finally… “King Lear”: NYC play shows paranoid old man governing badly after making bizarre requests for loyalty.