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See the original image at newsweek.com —

DNA Glitch Prevents Kids From Learning From Their Mistakes

newsweek.com — In about 30% of children, the coils of their DNA carry a glitch, one that leaves their brains with few dopamine receptors, molecules that act as docking ports for one of the neurochemicals that carry our thoughts and emotions. Children with the genetic variant are unable to learn from mistakes.

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  • reelskamachine, on 08/12/2008, -18/+107no, your kids are just dumb
    • paranoiabacon, on 08/12/2008, -3/+23Kids only? I'm pretty sure DNA defects don't somehow stop affecting adults.

      Exhibit A: The 2004 elections.
      • thegrantman, on 08/13/2008, -0/+4Huh? What happened in 2004?
      • tech42er, on 08/13/2008, -0/+4I assume his point was that Americans didn't learn from their mistake when they elected Bush in 2000, so they elected him again in 2004.
      • Patori, on 08/13/2008, -0/+3You have a firm grasp of the obvious.
    • CosmicJustice, on 08/12/2008, -13/+1"no, your kids are just dumb"
      No, they can speak. They're just stupid like you.
      • reelskamachine, on 08/12/2008, -1/+3i wish that were true so we could be speaking as equals.
      • paranoiabacon, on 08/13/2008, -3/+8HUR HUR LITERAL DEFINITION OF DUMB HUR I GET IT
    • chaoswings, on 08/12/2008, -2/+8So you are telling me that a genius in a lab coat who has never met my children, but is giving me advice on how to raise them is wrong? Your also telling me kids are dumb? That's unpossible!

      /sarcasm
      • Dominicc2003, on 08/13/2008, -3/+2Just curious, was the "your also" an intentional mistake or was the only intentional one "that's unpossible!"?
        If the "your" is a genuine mistake, then I believe you have failed, as have I for writing such a pointless and boring reply..
    • LeeSoong, on 08/13/2008, -1/+2They still can become President some day,
      so - no problem.
  • barcelona10, on 08/12/2008, -2/+17I wonder if medical research will be able to correct these kind of DNA "glitches" in the future.
    • UberNick, on 08/12/2008, -3/+15There a promising new treatment involving gene injection therapy. Gene: pain, Instrument: back of my hand!
    • CosmicJustice, on 08/12/2008, -3/+1"I wonder if medical research will be able to correct these kind of DNA "glitches" in the future. "
      Yes! And then we will breed a race of supermen. Bwahahahahahaha!
    • LeeSoong, on 08/13/2008, -2/+4Oh, I think the Eugenics movement did enough perfecting of the master race back in the 1930's and 1940s . . .

      Genetics: Different does not mean wrong.

      Variation is the key to species survival.
  • Jacolyte, on 08/12/2008, -6/+68I think you mean genetic variations, or mutations. DNA doesn't have glitches or bugs, as if some divine mechanic forgot to tighten a bolt.
    • JSorrell, on 08/12/2008, -1/+13DNA does have "glitches" and "bugs" though. A lot of it can occur through epigenetic factors like histone tightening and methylation.

      A good example would be Prader-Willie Syndrome and Angelman Syndrome which occur from accidental imprinting of maternally/paternally derived genes.
      • Badandy127, on 08/12/2008, -6/+4Ummm. They're referring to a mutation as a glitch. Mutations can be good or bad, it's only when they're bad they call it a glitch.

        (I don't know what I'm talking about)
      • sadhesati, on 08/12/2008, -0/+1Ever meet a schizophrenic person with Prader-Willie syndrome? It's heaps of fun times
    • fungalboom, on 08/13/2008, -0/+4I agree, don't call it a glitch, like it was programmed with a plan; DNA replication is only a chemical reaction, and no reaction is guaranteed one result.

      Does anyone else find it funny when people believe they understand mutations, but refuse to believe that things evolve?
    • Aeric, on 08/13/2008, -2/+3I call *****. Turn on a stove and tell the kid to touch it. Repeat tomorrow and I bet you they don't touch the damn stove again.

      Kids are just dumb because their parents are dumb and that is what is in their DNA. See Idiocracy, its explains it perfectly in the first 5 minutes.
      • tech42er, on 08/13/2008, -1/+4You can't call *****. They did the study and they found that due to a genetic mutation, a certain percentage of the population has a severely reduced number of dopamine receptors, which are needed for "learning".
      • fungalboom, on 08/13/2008, -0/+0Oh lol, who actually read the article?.. I don't bother reading Newsweek. Most of the time I call ***** on them, and I'm sure I would this time too If I felt like sifting through it.
  • eggballs, on 08/12/2008, -18/+16The colloquial term for this disorder is *****.
    • scalemodlgiant, on 08/13/2008, -0/+10Inflammation of the Bush?

      That itself is a mistake you ought to learn from.
    • mbondr, on 08/13/2008, -0/+1This is Newsweek for heaven sakes! Remember -- half the people in the world are below average and most of them have car keys.
  • CVL4317, on 08/12/2008, -12/+22excuses for parental impotency
    • Brododium, on 08/12/2008, -1/+3Isn't that an oxymoron?
      i.e. impotent --> no kids
      .... no kids --> not parents
      Incompetence would probably make more sense.
      • latinjones, on 08/13/2008, -2/+1Is that a joke or do you really not know the definition of the word?
    • tech42er, on 08/13/2008, -0/+3What the *****? A genetic mutation exists that causes those who have it to not have as many dopamine receptors. How is this scientific fact an excuse for bad parenting? Obviously, Newsweek is going a little overboard in trying to put this study's findings into context, but this isn't an opinion.
  • aristone, on 08/12/2008, -5/+47++ Jacolyte

    “A cat who sits on a hot stove will never sit on a hot stove again. But he won’t sit on a cold stove, either.” Mark Twain

    30% have DNA that prevents them from acting like that cat. That's a problem?
    • Badandy127, on 08/12/2008, -0/+15Dugg for the Mark Twain quote. Woo hoo.
    • TheUnlearn, on 08/13/2008, -4/+1not being a geneticist or anything means my opinion hardly matters, but i'd say that our lifestyle has successfully removed natural selection. Otherwise traits like this would have been bred out.
    • gyver, on 08/13/2008, -0/+3Evolution takes a long time to occur and humans have only had a low mortality rate (before they were able to reproduce) for the past 200 years. Thats 10 generations if everyone had children when they hit 20. Not nearly enough time for anything significant to happen without the population being reduced dramatically.

      Also, cats tend to do things that would lead to their survival. Just because a cat does it doesn't mean its a bad thing.

  • Dumbledorito, on 08/12/2008, -13/+68Bush Syndrome?
  • Jenadae, on 08/12/2008, -8/+5Grandma got ran over by a reindeer!
  • abajaj2280, on 08/12/2008, -5/+3I finally have an excuse to do dumb things.
  • shortduderay, on 08/12/2008, -2/+9I'm showing this to my mom so she'll stop nagging at me. :D
    • willynilly, on 08/12/2008, -1/+13You don't get nagged AT; just nagged. Kind of like getting badgered.

      Now print this out so you don' t have to re-learn it.
    • wonderchemist, on 08/12/2008, -1/+3No, you won't remember to.
  • choochmail, on 08/12/2008, -2/+0so stitch doesn't only have a glitch, he has a genetic mutation...
  • michaelrsa, on 08/12/2008, -5/+11Nonsense, these whipper-snapper scientists always telling me how to raise my boys. You want to teach 'em to learn from mistakes, you bring out the belt.
    • VarelseSoul, on 08/12/2008, -6/+8I can't tell if you're being serious or not.

      but, I firmly do believe in spanking kids.
      • tech42er, on 08/13/2008, -1/+4"I can't tell if you're being serious or not."

        Then I feel sorry for you.
    • sadhesati, on 08/12/2008, -7/+2I'm pretty sure that's just teaching them violence
  • jarjarwang, on 08/12/2008, -3/+11If you say "Bush" in this comments section then you will get rickets.
  • Wootstapler, on 08/12/2008, -1/+7I guess we need an update from God on patch 1.1
  • justiceape, on 08/12/2008, -9/+2EUGENICS. IS. *****.
    • wunksta, on 08/12/2008, -2/+3eugenics and cybernetics will save (or destroy) our species.
    • inyearstocome, on 08/12/2008, -1/+3its actually fascinating, along with gene therapy-- but it carries dangerous potentials alongside all the good it could do... as do most things.
      • justiceape, on 08/13/2008, -1/+2By *****, I mean it is evil.
      • Sornos, on 08/13/2008, -1/+1Eugenics is not inherently evil. Like inyears said, only the people corrupting are/
      • Seldon2639, on 08/13/2008, -1/+1I don't think anyone misunderstood you, Justiceape. I think the objection is that eugenics itself isn't by definition evil. I'm Jewish, and had family members who died in the Holocaust, and I can say that eugenics itself isn't evil. It can be used to justify terrible, evil things, and can be done in evil ways, and for evil purposes, but that's true of almost any idea.

        Eugenics, if used and understood properly, could foster the next step in human evolution. We balk at the idea that certain people won't be allowed to reproduce, but we're not talking about weeding out any races, or any ethnicities, we're only talking about intelligence (mostly). There are people of every race, of every ethnicity, who are as intelligent. There is some variation between races, but given the normal distribution, that doesn't justify saying "well, blacks are on average a few points lower than asians on IQ tests, so we'll sterilize them", it'd be taken on an individual level, and thus would have the same general levels of diversity as now.
    • tehbored, on 08/13/2008, -2/+1No one said anything about eugenics. It's not *****, but it is pretty ineffective. Gene therapy will be both more effective and more humane.
    • gyver, on 08/13/2008, -2/+1We've been doing eugenics for millennia with domesticated animals. Of course it works, it just takes a ***** long time.
  • ligyron, on 08/12/2008, -6/+18"I took a hammer and slapped the ***** out of him... Jumping on my god damn couch." - Bernie Mac
    • browwiw, on 08/12/2008, -12/+8Just because Bernie Mac is dead doesn't magically make him funny.
      • airmann90, on 08/13/2008, -7/+2Just because you're a ***** doesn't mean you should talk.
      • ryansimbalist, on 08/13/2008, -6/+2Just because you angry doesn't mean you be a dick.
  • Tyrghast, on 08/12/2008, -10/+1Whatever, ADD is still a load of *****.
    • inyearstocome, on 08/13/2008, -0/+3ADD is very real-- but medicine is not the answer. Structure and good boundaries can function just as well.
    • reelskamachine, on 08/13/2008, -0/+4thanks tom cruise, after all i'm sure you're an expert
      • Tyrghast, on 08/13/2008, -2/+1Wow, my comment has nothing to do with the abolition of sciences a la Scientology's beliefs. But it's true, ADD is merely a scapegoat for parents not to discipline their children and teach them how to behave in public.
    • thegrantman, on 08/13/2008, -0/+4ADD is *****.This guy has it right. Studies have shown.....ooohhh look,a kitty!
    • tehbored, on 08/13/2008, -0/+2ADD isn't always *****, but the doctors diagnosing it are usually full of *****. Kids who don't have ADD are given drugs they don't need simply for being kids. And because of the way the brain functions, it usually makes them worse.
    • badmagicnumber, on 08/13/2008, -0/+1Wow, may I see your neuroscience credentials ?

      ADHD gets a bad rap because pushy parents and less than ethical physicians love to push it as an excuse to cover for things like poor parenting, normal childhood behavior that annoys the older folk and issues like lack of interest due to a lack of a challenging environment for high ability kids. I knew several kids, including myself, that grew up before the ADHD craze, but if were kids now, we'd be labeled as ADHD simply because we were bored and unchallenged.

      ADHD is a real disorder with real neurochemical causes. Problem is that most of the ADHD kids out there don't really have ADHD.

      Ancient article: http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9909/01/adhd.overdiagnos ...

      http://psycport.com/stories/krdigital_2004_06_08_e ...
  • DopeManFunk, on 08/12/2008, -11/+9I call *****.

    "A paucity of dopamine receptors is linked to an inability to avoid self-destructive behavior such as illicit drug use"

    Cocaine releases dopamine into the blood stream and blocks the re-absorption of it. I don't understand how a lack of receptors that would react to this dopamine would be linked someone to addiction. I see it the other way around. Fewer receptors = no matter how much is released you can only react to so much at one time.

    Atleast thats my-i-suck-at-bio-and-have-never-taken-a-bio-class-since-high-school take on it.
    • sadhesati, on 08/13/2008, -0/+8Having fewer receptors just means that a person needs more of a dopamine agonist to experience the same high that someone with more dopamine receptors needs. That's how desensitization works - the more you take cocaine, the less intense the effect is on you, because your body decreases the number of dopamine receptors in response to there being more dopamine in the synapse.

      Someone having fewer numbers to begin with is probably going to start off using more cocaine than the average person starts off using, and the few receptors that they have will decrease even more in number, so they've gotta take more and more to get the high. And then somewhere during that time they find themselves taking cocaine just to avoid the withdrawal (=addiction). People with naturally fewer receptors are probably going to become addicted more quickly.
      • ceramufary, on 08/13/2008, -0/+6Yes - what sadhesati said, and also, having fewer dopamine receptors means that the experience of having those dopamine receptors stimulated heavily is of greater "interest" to those who have what we usually call "an addictive personality."

        That said, this article is a lace-knit doily of *****. I especially like how the article points out that the "so-called experts" in these two fields (behavioral psychology and genetics) are so "resistant" to this idea. Only the valiant truth-seekers that this article is about are able to See The Truth.

        Echoing an earlier comment: Eugenics Is *****.
    • Epistaxis, on 08/13/2008, -0/+2Thanks for using your i-suck-at-bio-... expertise to call ***** on a published scientific study. You should consider applying for a job at the Institute for Creation Research.
  • Thirtysixway, on 08/12/2008, -11/+28More like your kid's a ***** idiot, smack him.
  • rex84, on 08/12/2008, -7/+4This explains the chunk of the electorate that repeatedly vote for the "lesser of two evils" and perpetuate the fraudulent two-party system.
    • CosmicJustice, on 08/13/2008, -1/+6Does it also explain people with a one track mind who can't stop themselves from posting off-topic political *****.
  • sfacets, on 08/12/2008, -2/+3Darwinism.
  • skiiper, on 08/12/2008, -4/+13Best treatment for that is a good old ass-whoopin'
  • espoandy, on 08/12/2008, -4/+3...or maybe they'd rather just get drunk with they're friends then study for a ***** test
    • thegbe, on 08/13/2008, -0/+8*their -- maybe you should have spent less time getting drunk with your friends and more time studying for a test.
    • Azohko, on 08/13/2008, -0/+1Get Wrecked?
  • wunksta, on 08/12/2008, -1/+4that explains a lot actually
  • firesphotons, on 08/12/2008, -4/+1Bush is breathing easier, rickets is pretty rare do your worst
  • willowwolf, on 08/12/2008, -2/+1there have always been parents tearing out their hair over their kids' behavior. that will never change. this is not a story. this is an excuse to complain about how everybody is different.
  • spongya77, on 08/12/2008, -3/+6The very same 30% runs for congress/senate/presidency I presume.
  • Infidelcastr0, on 08/12/2008, -4/+5Well, that explains McCain supporters...
  • MadMaxMugie, on 08/13/2008, -2/+4Sorry the answer to problem children is not more drugs. This is the answer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPZ_5qMr-ds
  • Alex2, on 08/13/2008, -1/+6Not learning from your mistakes doesn't prevent you from propagating. Just look at all the trailer parks with families with twenty kids.

  • scoottie, on 08/13/2008, -4/+1lame
  • inyearstocome, on 08/13/2008, -2/+5Modern science loves to blame brain chemistry as the ROOT of all problems, when in many cases, the chemistry itself is the CAUSED by other issues. There are over 100 known neurotransmitters, many of which were discovered after the dopamine/seratonin models used by big pharma was already set in place.

    Truth is, they've only scratched the surface, and STILL use the outdated model. Welcome to big business.
    • createuniverses, on 08/13/2008, -0/+1I don't know about you, but I like my brain!!

      Give my my dopamine receptor pills NAO!!! Need brain!!
    • Seldon2639, on 08/13/2008, -0/+1Yeah, but then you get into a massive argument about whether neurochemistry is based more on genetics or on environment, and it's a mixed bag of research. Herrnstein and Murray wrote a lot about it in terms of intelligence, and it's still debatable. At the moment, the best we can come up with (in terms of whether the "chemistry" is to blame, or whether something else causes the chemistry) is "a little of both". I use "chemistry" in quotation marks since your comment is a bit of equivocation. Modern science blames brain chemistry for all of the decisions we make, since there's nothing else in there. The question is what the biggest influence on that chemistry is.
  • AsusMobo, on 08/13/2008, -2/+5We call these people, politicians
  • ileftfark, on 08/13/2008, -2/+3They can train goldfish to learn from mistakes. I don't even want to hear this *****.
    • tehbored, on 08/13/2008, -1/+1Can they train all goldfish? Maybe goldfish don't have this genetic variation.
  • Kanten, on 08/13/2008, -3/+1Said glitch also causes 30% of parents to blame said kids' mistakes on GTA.
  • kh99, on 08/13/2008, -1/+2I'm glad there are some intelligent people in the world who have an interest in understanding things, because if everyone was like the idiots responsible for most of these comments (who apparently think they already know everything) we'd still be in the dark ages.
    • krnldmp, on 08/13/2008, -0/+1Several years ago I supposed that people stupid enough to generate half the comments on digg would never enter the online realm. Oh ***** well.
    • ceramufary, on 08/13/2008, -1/+1Most of these comments are way more accurate than anything you'll read in that article, kh99. :)
  • cubicledrone, on 08/13/2008, -2/+0This just in: Newsweek has vaulted past both the scientific and medical communities and can now describe speficially how the human brain works.
  • thomas, on 08/13/2008, -1/+1Finally science discovers the reason why about 30% of the population is f'ing clueless.
  • krnldmp, on 08/13/2008, -0/+1That's fascinating but why do so many news writers have dreams of being a novelist? If you didn't read the article yet just start on the second page, goddamit.
  • Ummagumma, on 08/13/2008, -4/+2Finally, the second Bush term explained!
  • ceramufary, on 08/13/2008, -0/+2Seriously, there's a gene that can protect children from a cold, distant mother? There's a gene that causes children to not listen to their parents? I thought we quit this perfect-parenting nonsense in the 80s.
  • NecroSexy, on 08/13/2008, -2/+130%? That seems low.
  • minervasucks, on 08/13/2008, -1/+330% sounds about right... add to that 50% of really lousy parents that think wearing matching High School Musical shirts means they are bonding or think their kids are just free spirits/creative minds (a.k.a lousy spoiled brats)...
    We have high hopes for you 20%, don't let us down...
  • tehbored, on 08/13/2008, -1/+3Sweet! Now I have an excuse!
  • seanstuart, on 08/13/2008, -2/+1Oh great, another "my child suffers from ... "
  • MercyBuckets, on 08/13/2008, -1/+2Hear that mommy? Don't feel bad about leaving your kid with a nanny who may or may not speak English so you can go out on the weekends, or fret over taking him to your girlfriend's house leaving him stuck in a stroller for a couple hours with nothing to do except listen while you gossip away with your friends as they impart onto you all of their sagely advice, because it's really just a genetic failure if he doesn't turn out as promised. On the father's side, of course.
  • supermanred, on 08/13/2008, -4/+2This is all a load of *****. When I was a kid, they just whacked you upside the head and immediately every peice of DNA in your body would simultaneously correct itself.
  • TheInformer, on 08/13/2008, -3/+2Let's go for a negative diggs record...

    "The lack of this gene means the children will grow up to be Obambi supporters."
  • TheMachine1, on 08/13/2008, -0/+3Its not the inability to learn from mistakes. This is impulsivity. Its not that a person can not see their course of action is destructive its that they have discounted the future value of doing something difficult in exchange for short term payoffs of doing less difficult or pleasurable things. We all do it but there is likely a biological basis for those that do it more.

    Impulsivity is also called hyperbolic discounting. Regardless if you want to call these people dumb, victims of bad parenting, etc it does not change the fact that the phenomena is real and its not easy to treat.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporal_Discounting
  • RoboCafaz, on 08/13/2008, -3/+1That just means you have to hit them harder.
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