Weirdness of Iceland=Good Genetic Research

3 interesting genetics notes from February

1) An Icelandic study (best place to do genetic studies for many reasons) run by a company called deCode shows that third-to-fourth cousins actually have the highest fertility rate. Better than either closer relatives, or unrelated folks...which seems to go ever so slightly in the face of widenening the 'gene-pool'.*

2) The Pasteur Institute, after studying the genetic codes, determines that "...humans, for all their outward variety, are a pretty homogeneous species..."*

Here's the one I really found coolest:
3) Women can smell the best genetic match for them...unless they're on birth control. (I already knew the first half, but not the second.)#
( more behind the cut )

*From The Economist, Feb 9, 2008, "Kissing Cousins, Missing Children" and "Human Races or Human Race"
#From Psychology Today, Jan/Feb 2008 "Scents and Sensibility" E. Svoboda

ETA: Link to articles above, now...

X-posted from beloved_book

As I will readily admit, I don't only read Speculative Fiction, but also Mystery and Romance. And this happens to be one of my favorite authors--Margaret Miles. A Mischief in the Snow is the fourth in a series of novels about a young widow and her neighbor who live in Bracebridge, Massachusetts during the 1760s.

Charlotte Willet is the sort of woman who asks questions--which often lands her in trouble. In this story, Charlotte finds herself entangled in the affairs of the family who lives on Boar Island, and subsequently becomes involved in searching for the killer of the family's grand dame--a quest which only leads to further mysteries. Her neighbor and friend, Richard Longfellow, had his own mission--to find out who's responsible for counterfeit shillings that have been turning up in town. In time the two find that their problems are all tied together, and they must work together to solve them, along with Captain Edmund Montagu, a British officer...and Richard's brother-in-law. A budding romance between Charlotte and Richard makes the book all the more interesting.

That this is the fourth in the series will inform anyone that there is past history going on between the Willet and Longfellow families. The author deftly weaves a mesmerizing picture of rural colonial life, full of the sort of details that I love to read. In the back cover, we are told that the author is working on another book, but alas, we haven't seen that book yet, 6 years later. I'll keep hoping!

(I've been meaning to do this more ofter)