Socially Awkward? Check Your Genes
by Michael Torrice from Science
"Some people can read your face and know you've had a bad day. Others
seem oblivious. Now, researchers have pinpointed a genetic explanation
for why some people are better empathizers than others.
Empathy is crucial for our everyday social interactions.
Neuroscientists have focused on a possible role for oxytocin, a hormone
that seems to help us get along. Human volunteers trust
others more to dole out money fairly when under the influence of the
hormone, for example. And recently, scientists have linked a variation,
or polymorphism, in the gene that codes for the oxytocin receptor to
autism, a disorder defined by impaired social interactions..."
Read the article.