NY Times: Researchers say Intelligence and Diseases May Be Linked in Ashkenazic Genes

Being Askenazic, I was drawn to this article. After reading the whole report, which is more balanced than it may initially appear, I still don't know what to think. My conclusion is that it's . . . interesting:

Researchers say Intelligence and Diseases May Be Linked in Ashkenazic Genes

By NICHOLAS WADE
Published: June 3, 2005

A team of scientists at the University of Utah has proposed that the unusual pattern of genetic diseases seen among Jews of central or northern European origin, or Ashkenazim, is the result of natural selection for enhanced intellectual ability.

The selective force was the restriction of Ashkenazim in medieval Europe to occupations that required more than usual mental agility, the researchers say in a paper that has been accepted by the Journal of Biosocial Science, published by Cambridge University Press in England.

The hypothesis advanced by the Utah researchers has drawn a mixed reaction among scientists, some of whom dismissed it as extremely implausible, while others said they had made an interesting case, although one liable to raise many hackles.

Read the full article.

Watching the Tonys

Several thoughts:

Kathleen Turner's voice is deeper than Harvey Fierstein's.

These days, Harvey Fierstein looks like a venerable old rabbi.

Christina Applegate looked like she was working really hard in that scene from "Sweet Charity." But it's not supposed to look hard, even if it is. Nothing about her performance looked natural.

Hugh Jackman was terrific. But I still can't decide if I think that pairing him with Aretha Franklin was brilliant or just . . . odd. Or both. Or if Aretha was simply the wrong person to pick to sing "There's a Place for Us" altogether.

I'm not and never have been a fan of Al Sharpton, but I gotta admit that I enjoyed the hell out of watching him do that bit in the excerpt from "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," a show I'd really like to see. (Oh hell, I want to see them all but I'm too damn far away and too damn poor right now.)

Did anyone keep any track of how many same-sex kisses we saw on national television tonight?

For that matter, how many people in Middle America—if any were watching, that is—do you suppose realized that the chorus line from "La Cage Aux Folles" was all men?

And why is it, do you suppose, that whenever I watch anything on TV related to the theater or go to the theater, that at some point I find myself quietly bawling? And looking up how much the next class at Freehold Actors Studio costs? (Rhetorical question, really. I know what the answer is, and I suspect it may be the subject of another long, introspective post somewhere down the line....)