Round-up: Is physiognomy real?

The most interesting articles that came to our attention this week

Genetic basis of partner choice. Qinwen Zheng and colleagues carry out the first genome-wide association study on a latent index of partner choice. Analysing data on 206,617 individuals from four international samples, they find that partner choice does have a genetic basis. The latent index has strong genetic correlations with a number of traits, including educational attainment, household income and antisocial behaviour.

Genetic Influences on Educational Achievement in Cross-National Perspective. Tina Baier and colleagues study cross-national differences in the role of genes in educational achievement. Analysing data from Germany, Norway, Sweden and the US, they find that Germany stands out as having the weakest genetic influences, possibly due to early tracking. Genetic effects are comparably strong in the three other countries.