“When visiting the nature versus nurture debate, there is overwhelming evidence that both genetic and environmental factors can influence traits and diseases.”

So concluded researchers from Australia and the Netherlands after reviewing 50 years of studies and millions of cases.  “One of the great tussles of science – whether our health is governed by nature or nurture – has been settled, and it is effectively a draw.”

Without impugning the value of scientific studies, it’s hard not to wonder at the amount of time and effort scientists often invest to prove what most thinking people have already figured out for themselves.

“The findings, published in Nature Genetics, reveal on average the variation for human traits [is] 49 per cent genetic, and 51 per cent [environment].”

Stop the presses.  Film at eleven.

But even the obvious conclusion that personality is determined equally by genetics and by environment misses a larger point.  

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