To Move Is to Thrive, It’s in Our Genes

#HumanGenome #SurvivalInstinct #DNA #Health #Review

This article in the New York Times is examining whether the desire to be constantly moving is genetic. Some people have a tendency to move around all the time and have a very hard time sitting still. Scientists decided to look at human DNA, using big data and sophisticated genetic analysis, to see if there are specific genes that correlate with activity. They also wanted to determine if it was unique to humans and how far back in our ancestry these traits go. What they found was that there are six specific gene snippets that are related to such heightened activity in humans. They also looked at chimps to see if they shared such DNA, and they found that do not. They also found that these genes showed up in direct human ancestors about 500,000 years ago, which is longer than expected.

The article concludes by stating that the six genes studied are still not fully understood. And that the urge to be active is something that essentially makes us human. But there is no way to tell why such genes developed, we can only speculate. This conclusion does not give much closure but rather opens the door to more questions.

The article followed the inverted pyramid style of writing, it began by highlighting the topics in question with the premise that high levels of activity is genetic. Then it provided details on how this conclusion was reached with some background info mixed in. the article is written with active voice, making the author sound like an authority on the subject. The article is very data oriented and moves from correlation to correlation, so the wording is very concise, but it is not very varied or interesting. There is also no hint of bias, as the article states mostly facts.

The article links the original study and notes the university that conducted it, Texas A&M, which is a well known and respected school. This eliminates questions about the reliability of the sources. There are a couple of quotes in this article toward the end. They don’t really reinforce anything, but they give some importance to the man who conducted the study and offer him some ownership of it as well.

Original Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/15/well/move/to-move-is-to-thrive-its-in-our-genes.html