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“I hope my baby doesn’t get my ankles.” “I hope she gets my brains.” Parents often wonder if the baby looks more like the mother or the father. As soon as your baby comes into this world, family and friends gather around your baby trying to figure out whose genes the baby has got. Is it your nose or your husband’s curly hair? And the debate continues even as they progress into adulthood.
Parents are curious to figure out what part of their genes their child has inherited, whether it is looks or intelligence. Did you ever wonder about who passed on the intelligence genes to your baby? Is it mommy or daddy?
Should We Thank Our Mothers For Our Intelligence?
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Well, this new research is going to make all the mommies around the world really happy and proud. Research states that when it comes to determining how intelligent your baby is, there’s no role for daddy to play in there. It’s all mommy! So, in fact, it’s the mother’s genes that decide how clever the child really is. The intelligence genes are present in the X chromosomes. The mother has two X chromosomes and the father has one X and one Y chromosome. Hence, the mother has double the chances of passing down the intelligence gene to the baby, according to the research.
Conditional Genes And How It Works
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You may wonder, but what if the X chromosome is transmitted from the father? Wouldn’t the child inherit the intelligence of the father then?
It says that even if the father does pass down the X chromosome that contains the intelligence gene, it won’t add to the intelligence of the child. The intelligence gene inherited from the father will be deactivated. This theory is based on what is called ‘conditional genes.’ It says that these genes act differently based on their origin. A biological tag which is present in the genes allows us to trace their origin to find out if they become active in the progeny’s cell. Interestingly, the research claims that these intelligence genes only become active when it’s comes from the mother. If the father were to pass down these genes, it wouldn’t be active in the offspring’s cell. So should all smart people be thanking their mothers? Does this mean that single women need not search for an intelligent guy at the sperm bank anymore?
It May Not Be True
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Before you get overly excited thinking that you are solely responsible for passing on the intelligence genes to your child, we have some contradictory news for you. Some close inspection of the study suggests that what the research claims may not be entirely true. Intelligence is quite complicated. It is layers of interacting pieces one upon the other. There might be a number of factors to take into consideration when we are talking about the intelligence of a child. It is not possible to define it in a unidimensional way. Other factors such as the environment and the culture also play a role in determining the intellect of a child. A child’s intelligence may also be influenced by these factors even after birth. There’s no scientific evidence that actually proves that the intelligence of the baby is passed on mainly from the mother. Even the father might have an equal role to play to determine how clever your baby will be. In the end, both the parents might be equally responsible for determining the kid’s intelligence.
So, the next time you hear your husband bragging about how your little one got his genes, you can let him know that it’s not true. But it also means that you don’t get to take credit for your little one’s intelligence either.
