Your colleagues report that, on average, “Certain parts of the brain long thought to be involved with basketball playing are much larger in the group of basketball players. Not only does basketball playing run in families, but even these people’s brains are different. Those parts responsible for an activity get larger over time, and there are specific parts of the brain that are more utilized in basketball playing. Now, as a scientist, you will not lie about this fact, if asked (since you will not be), but neither will you go out of your way to offer the truth. The truth, after all, would put an end to the worldwide media blitz accompanying the announcement of your findings. Gene Linkage Studies: “Associated With” Does Not Mean “Caused By” Now, for the last phase, you find a small number of families of basketball players and compare them to some families of nonplayers.
As we have seen, there is no evidence that homosexuality is simply “genetic”–and none of the research itself claims there is
You have a hunch that of the innumerable genes likely to be associated with basketball playing (those for height, athleticism, and quick reflexes, for example), some will be located on the x-chromosome.