In your genes

This is in your DNA: 12 weird traits passed down from long ago

Image: Cade Proulx

You may have never met your great-great-grandparents, but their biological legacy lives on in you in ways you might not expect. From tiny quirks in your body to odd preferences and physical features, ancestral survival and lifestyle choices have shaped what you carry today. Here are 12 surprising traits that science has linked to deep genetic inheritance.

Image: Katya Ross

A thumb that bends backward at the top joint is known as a hitchhiker’s thumb. It results from a single gene variant.

This trait is controlled by a variation in the gene responsible for joint flexibility. Some people have it in both thumbs, while others only in one. It's a harmless variation that may have been more common in populations requiring greater dexterity.

Image: Max Leveridge

Some babies are born with blue or gray eyes that change color over time. The way this shift unfolds is written in your DNA.

After birth, melanin production in the iris increases over time. Genetic variants in the OCA2 and HERC2 genes regulate melanin levels. These subtle changes can take months or even years to settle into a final eye color.

Image: Alex Guillaume

The ability to roll your tongue into a tube shape is often thought to be purely genetic, and that’s partially true. While you can learn to do it with a lot of practice, studies show it’s also influenced by genes.

Some populations have a higher percentage of tongue rollers, and the trait may have originally been a byproduct of muscle control needed for speech or food manipulation in early humans.

Image: Tim Trad

Acrophobia, or intense fear of heights, has a genetic link tied to survival instincts from your prehistoric ancestors.

People with heightened depth perception or balance issues may inherit a stronger fight-or-flight response to elevation. This reaction likely helped early humans avoid dangerous cliffs or falling from trees.

Image: KaLisa Veer

Strange as it sounds, redheads often experience pain differently. Some studies suggest they have a higher threshold for certain types of pain, while others indicate increased sensitivity to specific stimuli like cold or heat.

This is linked to ancient adaptations in the MC1R gene, which influences melanin production and also affects pain modulation through opioid receptors in the brain. Variants of this gene were more common in populations from colder regions, such as prehistoric Europe.

Image: Chermiti Mohamed

Freckles are genetic, but they bloom with sun exposure due to the way ancestral DNA interacts with UV light.

In fact, the same MC1R gene involved in red hair also influences how melanin clusters into freckles. This is because freckling was advantageous for fair-skinned populations needing some UV protection without full pigmentation.

Image: Anita Jankovic

The ability to digest milk into adulthood is a relatively recent mutation in human history. Populations with pastoralist ancestors—such as Northern Europeans and some East Africans—evolved lactase persistence, the continued production of the enzyme lactase that enables them to digest milk throughout adulthood.

Most of the world remains lactose intolerant, but those with this mutation can thank their ancestors for a genetic advantage linked to dairy-based survival.

Image: Thomas Park

Weirdly enough, some people sneeze when exposed to sunlight or even just bright lights. This phenomenon, known as the "photic sneeze reflex," affects 18–35% of people and is linked to genetics.

While this inherited quirk is harmless, it likely results from crossed nerve signals between the optic and trigeminal nerves, the latter of which controls facial sensations and reflexes like sneezing.

Image: Claudia Love

Also called Morton’s toe, this feature was once thought to improve balance or running efficiency. The trait is hereditary and common in certain populations.

Greek statues often depict this toe shape, suggesting it was either idealized or prevalent in ancient Mediterranean groups. Biomechanical studies show mixed results, but some suggest that a longer second toe can affect posture and gait.

Image: Mika Ruusunen

People with ancestry from colder regions often have inherited a better tolerance to cold. Adaptations such as higher basal metabolic rates, subcutaneous fat distribution, and heat-conserving blood vessel responses are linked to genetic clusters in populations like the Inuit or Sámi.

Genes like UCP1, which influence fat burning and thermogenesis, are more active in these populations.

Image: Marco Bianchetti

Some people have a vestigial muscle in the forearm that others lack entirely. Called the palmaris longus, it once helped tree-climbing primates enhance their arm strength.

Today, about 14% of people are born without it in one or both arms. It has little to no effect on grip strength, making it a living fossil of human evolution. Interestingly, when present, it’s often harvested for surgical grafts because its absence doesn’t impair function.

Image: Bethany Beck

Clockwise or counterclockwise hair whorls are influenced by genetics, and some studies link their direction to the same genes that affect handedness. However, identical twins can sometimes have opposite whorl patterns, suggesting a mix of genetics and early fetal environment.

This trait has no known survival function but may serve as a visible marker of underlying developmental processes during early embryonic growth.

THE LANGUAGE OF POWER

White House Lingo: 10 Essential Political Terms Decoded

Image: Harold Mendoza

Politics can sometimes feel like a maze of jargon and buzzwords (almost as if it were designed to obfuscate newcomers). The truth is that even seasoned journalists and experts can get confused sometimes, so feeling lost in this linguistic mess is nothing to be ashamed of!

To help navigate this complex landscape, we've decoded 10 essential political terms that will help you engage more meaningfully with the complex world of politics.

Image: History in HD

A caucus is a meeting of members of a political party or movement to discuss and deliberate on issues, select candidates, and determine policy positions. While the exact etymology of the word is not known, it is speculated that it could have been derived from the Algonquian word for "counsel."

Unlike primaries, caucuses involve open discussions and multiple rounds of voting, making them a more interactive and participatory form of democratic decision-making. In some special cases, voters aren’t even required to register with a political party to take part in the caucus.

Image: Kelly Sikkema

Donkeys and elephants have been iconic symbols of the Democratic and Republican parties, respectively, at least since the 19th century.

The donkey was first associated with the Democrats during the presidency of Andrew Jackson, while the elephant became linked to the Republicans thanks to a political cartoon by Thomas Nast. Today, these two symbols are widely recognized and used to represent the two major political parties in the United States.

Image: Clay Banks

Gerrymandering is the controversial practice of manipulating the boundaries of electoral districts to favor one party over another. By strategically redrawing district lines, politicians can dilute the voting power of certain communities or consolidate their own support base.

The term is a portmanteau of the word salamander and Elbridge Gerry, a politician who - during his tenure as governor of Massachusetts in 1812 - signed a bill that created a partisan district in the Boston area, at the time compared to the shape of a salamander.

Image: Marco Oriolesi

Another highly controversial figure, the filibuster is a tactic used in legislative bodies to delay or block a vote on a proposed bill. It involves a member of the assembly speaking for an extended period, often on unrelated topics, to prevent the bill from reaching a vote.

The stalling practice is as old as democracy, and one of its first recorded practitioners was the Roman senator Cato the Younger. Extensively used in the United States Senate, the only current way to effectively end a filibuster is a procedure called "cloture," though a minimum of 16 senators must sign the petition.

Image: Daniel Huizinga, CC BY 2.0

Lobbying refers to the efforts of individuals or groups to influence government decisions, typically by advocating for specific policies or legislation. Lobbyists often work on behalf of corporations, interest groups, or nonprofits to sway lawmakers in their favor.

There are even professional lobbyists, hired by various organizations to aid their cause. Though the practice of lobbying is not illegal per se, it is often considered controversial as it can lead to elected officials failing to serve the public interest in favor of special interest groups.

Image: Cytonn Photography

Bipartisanship is the cooperation or agreement between two opposing political parties. It often involves compromise and negotiation to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes, even in the face of ideological differences.

As a phenomenon, it mostly applies to countries with a strong two-party system, such as the United States, though it can rarely be applied to different political scenarios.

Image: Heather Mount

Grassroots movements are organized efforts by ordinary citizens to promote social or political change from the bottom up. These movements often mobilize local communities to advocate for specific causes or influence public policy.

Though the origins of the word are obscure, an early reference to the term was used by Senator Albert Jeremiah Beveridge of Indiana in 1912, who said of the Progressive Party that "(it) has come from the grass roots. It has grown from the soil of people's hard necessities."

Image: Jonathan Simcoe

Checks and balances refer to the system of separate powers within a government that ensures one branch doesn't become too powerful. This principle, integral to many democracies, helps maintain accountability and prevent abuses of power.

The French philosopher Montesquieu is often attributed with one of the first proposals for the separation of powers through a tripartite system that provided mechanisms to fight the centralization of power in one branch of government.

Image: Christian Lue

Soft power is the ability of a country to influence others through cultural, economic, or diplomatic means, rather than through coercion or force. It's about winning hearts and minds, fostering goodwill, and shaping global perceptions.

Political scientist Joseph Nye was the first to popularize the concept of "soft power" in the late 80s, arguing that - in contrast with "hard" or coercive power - it aims to get others to want the same outcomes one is looking for.

Image: Arnaud Jaegers

A bellwether state is one that can purportedly predict the outcome of a presidential election through its electoral results. This might happen due to its electorate closely matching the patterns of larger areas, for various demographic reasons.

These states are often seen as indicators of national trends and can play a pivotal role in predicting the outcome of elections. Ohio is often cited as a bellwether state due to its historical tendency to vote for the winning presidential candidate.