The fate of heritability in the postgenomic era

This commentary argues that age changes in heritability are incompatible with Charney's theory. The new genetics must be tempered by the findings that many epigenetic phenomena are random and are linked to pathology, thus making them peripheral to the design of complex adaptations. Behavior-genetic findings are compatible with strong maternal effects; G x E correlations likely underestimate environmental effects; and G x E interactions are unlikely to be an important aspect of normal development.