Monday 27 February, 2006

Depressed Dragon

It is widely accepted fact that depression is a Finnish national disease. However, now that the human genome has been exposed for scientist to rummage through those pesky men and women in white coats have gone and found the gene that causes depression.

Unsurprising news is that the gene seems to be quite common in Fennoscandia. Surprising news is that depression gene is not all bad according to the scientists.

Those of our ancestors that lived in world of harsh nature and extreme weather of the far north faced hardships that were unknown in the warmer parts of the world. Some of them carried the normal genes, while others were genetically prone to depression.

However, those poor, depressed individuals worried out of their skulls about the horrors that the future holds amassed enough food and other vital supplies to survive even the worst case scenario which included 8 months of -40 C cold, packs of wolves, bear attacks, enemy raids and ten feet of snow. In the extreme climate of Finland quite often the “worst” materialized. Those without the tendency to worry about the future died out. The grim and the depressed survived, thanks to their pessimistic view of the future that compelled them to hoard for the worst case scenario.

So next time you feel the anxiety and the need to plan for the future catastrophe, you might be into something.

Posted by Dragon at 27 February 23:57, 2006
Comments
# 1 - Janka (on February 28, 2006 01:22 AM):

Correction: not "the gene that causes depression" but "a gene that increases susceptibility to depression". There are two major differences: first, that this is not the only gene involved, and two, this gene might not be the direct causal effect.

Compare to this: the skies being cloudy increase the chance of the ground being wet, but do not directly cause it (it needs to rain, not just be cloudy), and also are not the only possible cause (we can make the ground wet even in the absence of clouds).


# 2 - Dragon (on February 28, 2006 08:22 AM):

I stand corrected.


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