Are you wicked smart?
Or, as it’s pronounced around my house: ah you wikked smaht? There’s a recruiting effort by the BGI (Beijing Genomics Institute–which is not limited to Beijing anymore) to obtain a collection of wicked smart people and analyze their DNA. They are looking for genes for intelligence.
I looked at the automatic criteria, and I’m not eligible. At least by that measure. But maybe some of you are. On the first page of the study it says:
We are currently recruiting subjects for:
- A Genome Wide Association Study of intelligence. If you are cognitively gifted, we encourage you to participate!
On the participation page:
How to qualify
We currently seek participants with high cognitive ability. You can qualify for the study if you have obtained a high SAT/ACT/GRE score, or have performed well in academic competitions such as the Math, Physics, or Informatics Olympiads, the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, TopCoder, etc. You may also qualify via exceptional academic credentials, which you will have a chance to specify in the survey.
Automatic qualifying criteria include:
- An SAT score of at least 760V/800M post-recentering or 700V/780M pre-recentering; ACT score of 35-36; or GRE score of at least 700V/800M.
- A PhD from a top US program in physics, math, EE, or theoretical computer science.
- Honorable mention or better in the Putnam competition.
Umm…never even heard of the Putnam. I think I’m out….
Anyway–if you want to advance the research and you qualify, you may want to check it out. Be sure to read and understand the privacy policy and the consent form (PDF).
They also intend to do another one on face blindness (prosopagnosia). I know some people with this, I think it might be interesting to see if they can find genes for that. Right now they are directing people to faceblind.org for signing up for information.
Hat tip @BGI_Events:
RT @BGI_Events: Now at #google @hsu_steve is launching our drive to recruit US participants in our #cognitive #genomics project http://www.cog-genomics.org/
cross-posted at Genomes Are Us.
Comments
Comment from Mary
Time August 19, 2011 at 12:26 PM
Hey, give it a shot if you want to. But imagine getting turned down: sorry–you are too dumb for our DNA study…. How embarrassing would that be??
I was thinking they needed a control group and I am probably qualified for that–heh.
Comment from Trey
Time August 19, 2011 at 5:34 PM
very embarrassing, not worth it
Comment from Jim R
Time August 19, 2011 at 10:55 PM
If you’re wicked smart, you wouldn’t want to give your gene to the Chinese gov, they already blocked google and twitter, while their agent is using google and twitter to recruit suckers to donate their genes, how screwed up is that?
Comment from Trey
Time August 19, 2011 at 12:19 PM
huh, do you have to meet all the automatic qualifying criteria, or just one?