I have no idea where genetics is heading now. A Nature paper last week on the “population relevance of 95 loci for blood lipids” at least ends somewhere in the nowhere. Take not only 100 thousand participants but 100 million participants and you will get 95,000 loci – sorry to all my friends on the author list – that’s crap. Another, more interesting development during my recent absence in the Alpes comes by the Royal Society

In 1993 the world’s population was 5.5 billion; it is now 6.8 billion and is due to hit 7 billion by early 2012. A major new study looking at the implications of the changes in global population is being launched by the Royal Society with an expected conclusion in early 2012. [...] (Show me more…)

I need to refer here to a post 3 years ago or to the medical literature that genes frequencies changed rapidly between generations.
Although that is even the basis of a submitted Great Challenge Application at the Gates Foundation any empirical proof is scarce so far.
Or I have to say, until this week, when I found a study published earlier in PLoS ONE that tackles this problem: Selection for Genetic Variation Inducing Pro-Inflammatory Responses under Adverse Environmental Conditions in a Ghanaian Population (Show me more…)

So, plenty of time now for reading papers. My recommendation – the deadly sins of epidemiology by Grandjean.

What an individual is capable of may be measured by how far his understanding is from his willing. What a person can understand he must also be able to make himself will. Between understanding and willing lie the excuses and evasions (Kierkegaard).

ok, here we start:

pride – a form of self-delusion
envy and wrath – leads to ingratitude and failure to recognize other colleagues’ achievement
lust, greed, and gluttony – obsessed by seeking satisfaction and seeks frequent and limitless attention and recognition, including the highest academic titles and prizes
sloth – indifference to public health and to the welfare of others

Obviously there was a need to publish that kind of papers, yea, yea.

What do all these places share? Spitalfriedhof Basel, Roopkund Lake, Catacombes de Paris and Central Yakuts are all examples where remains are available for genetic studies (even Tutankhamun was undergoing a paternity test recently).
More relevant will certainly be an empirical investigation if reduced selection is leading now to immune disease.