I bring this up now because you will see it more and more often rearing its head in the strangest of places. At the Center for the Advancement of Health they are finding evidence, though it isn’t interpreted as such in the article, for self-control to have a genetic basis. This is particularly interesting in light of the findings in recent years regarding polymorphisms in 5-HT2A, tryptophan hydroxylase, and others. Here’s a nice summary of current research on serotonin and suicide. I have always felt that 5-HT2A signalling is related to emotional tolerance to events, and the idea connects the dots between the two phenomena nicely, if true. Of course, as mentioned in the NeLHM article, the statistics are far from conclusive.

Razib has invited me to contribute a little to the site, and I expect to be able to do so on an infrequent basis. Now I get to be called a racist too! Woohoo!