g and genomics

Heading down to Hsinchu, the Silicon Valley of Taiwan and home of Tsinghua University (there are two: one in Beijing and one in Taiwan!), to give a talk. Slides.

Special Joint Math Physics Colloquium

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May 9（Mon.） 2:00 P.M. at Lecture Room A, NCTS, 4th Floor,
The 3rd General Building, National Tsing Hua University


Speaker: Steve Hsu
(Professor of Physics, University of Oregon,
Visiting Professor, Academia Sinica)


Title: Investigating the genetic basis of intelligence

Abstract:
I begin with a brief review of psychometric results concerning intelligence (sometimes referred to as the g factor, or IQ). The main results concern the stability, validity (predictive power) and heritability of adult IQ. Next, I discuss ongoing Genome Wide Association Studies which investigate the genetic basis of intelligence. Due mainly to the rapidly decreasing cost of sequencing (currently below $5k per genome), it is likely that within the next 5-10 years we will identify genes which account for a significant fraction of total IQ variation. Finally, I end with an analysis of possible near term genetic engineering for intelligence.

This talk is aimed at physicists and should be accessible even to those with no specialized background in psychology or biology.