Feb 19, 2026 09:22 PM
Biologists discover gene that may determine ‘good’ and ‘bad’ dads
https://www.popsci.com/science/good-bad-dad-gene/
EXCERPT: Although a simplified example, the striped mouse can serve as a proxy for other mammals including humans. Knowing this, researchers at Princeton University recently investigated the neurological underpinnings of rodent fatherhood. Their new study published today in the journal Nature indicates that a specific molecular group inside the brain may largely determine how dads react to their progeny.
Although a simplified example, the striped mouse can serve as a proxy for other mammals including humans. Knowing this, researchers at Princeton University recently investigated the neurological underpinnings of rodent fatherhood. Their new study published today in the journal Nature indicates that a specific molecular group inside the brain may largely determine how dads react to their progeny.
To learn more, the team recorded the neural activity of male striped mice when placed in various situations both with and without pups. They soon noticed that neural activity in the brain’s medial preoptic area (MPOA) increased whenever the males encountered a young mouse. These MPOA spikes weren’t uniform, however. Higher activity in the region corresponded with helpfulness, while lower recordings aligned with hostility. Although this isn’t the first time that biologists noted MPOA’s relation to parenting, past research largely linked it to rodent females after becoming mothers.
“But in the case of these males, it’s not pregnancy or even parenthood that transforms their brains,” Forrest Rogers, a neuroscientist and study co-author, said in a statement. “Bachelors can be just as capable of caring as experienced dads.”
Rogers and his colleagues noticed MPOA was not the only area that tied to parenting. Surprisingly, the more caring mice dads also displayed lower levels of a gene called Agouti. This gene is typically known for its influence on metabolism and skin pigmentation, not fatherhood.
“Discovering this previously unknown role in the brain for parenting behavior was exciting,” said Rogers.
After finding this new link, researchers wanted to know what conditions influenced Agouti gene expression in the MPOA. Contrary to what one may initially assume, they found that solitary males possessed low levels of Agouti compared to males who lived in groups. Especially high levels also sometimes muted neural activity in the MPOA.
Artificially boosting Agouti through gene therapy reinforced these observations, too. Male mice who were previously nurturing became less interested or even volatile towards pups if they produced more Agouti. As a remedy, the team later relocated some of these males from communal to solitary living conditions. This naturally lowered their Agouti levels, making them more interested in the mice pups again.
“Our findings point to Agouti as a potential evolutionary mechanism that allows animals to integrate environmental information, such as social competition or population density, and adjust the balance between self-preservation and investment in offspring,” added study co-author and neuroscientist Catherine Peña... (MORE - details)
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Does this undermine free will? You have no control over your origins and initial identity, since you have to exist in the first place to in order accomplish or perform any _X_ (time travel to the past to undo one's very genesis is not possible). So insane versions of free will that demand impossible standards like self-determining the physical characteristics of one's own body and the environment that one is raised in, (etc) are dead out of the starting gate. We're obligated to define free will in ways that are actually attainable, not output and advocate deranged spectacle. And here that pertains to ignoring the fatalism of genetics and consciously asserting control over one's life as much as possible. That also entails the ability to reprogram one's self to different preferences and habits, if the old learned or acquired ones are leading to disastrous consequences.
https://www.popsci.com/science/good-bad-dad-gene/
EXCERPT: Although a simplified example, the striped mouse can serve as a proxy for other mammals including humans. Knowing this, researchers at Princeton University recently investigated the neurological underpinnings of rodent fatherhood. Their new study published today in the journal Nature indicates that a specific molecular group inside the brain may largely determine how dads react to their progeny.
Although a simplified example, the striped mouse can serve as a proxy for other mammals including humans. Knowing this, researchers at Princeton University recently investigated the neurological underpinnings of rodent fatherhood. Their new study published today in the journal Nature indicates that a specific molecular group inside the brain may largely determine how dads react to their progeny.
To learn more, the team recorded the neural activity of male striped mice when placed in various situations both with and without pups. They soon noticed that neural activity in the brain’s medial preoptic area (MPOA) increased whenever the males encountered a young mouse. These MPOA spikes weren’t uniform, however. Higher activity in the region corresponded with helpfulness, while lower recordings aligned with hostility. Although this isn’t the first time that biologists noted MPOA’s relation to parenting, past research largely linked it to rodent females after becoming mothers.
“But in the case of these males, it’s not pregnancy or even parenthood that transforms their brains,” Forrest Rogers, a neuroscientist and study co-author, said in a statement. “Bachelors can be just as capable of caring as experienced dads.”
Rogers and his colleagues noticed MPOA was not the only area that tied to parenting. Surprisingly, the more caring mice dads also displayed lower levels of a gene called Agouti. This gene is typically known for its influence on metabolism and skin pigmentation, not fatherhood.
“Discovering this previously unknown role in the brain for parenting behavior was exciting,” said Rogers.
After finding this new link, researchers wanted to know what conditions influenced Agouti gene expression in the MPOA. Contrary to what one may initially assume, they found that solitary males possessed low levels of Agouti compared to males who lived in groups. Especially high levels also sometimes muted neural activity in the MPOA.
Artificially boosting Agouti through gene therapy reinforced these observations, too. Male mice who were previously nurturing became less interested or even volatile towards pups if they produced more Agouti. As a remedy, the team later relocated some of these males from communal to solitary living conditions. This naturally lowered their Agouti levels, making them more interested in the mice pups again.
“Our findings point to Agouti as a potential evolutionary mechanism that allows animals to integrate environmental information, such as social competition or population density, and adjust the balance between self-preservation and investment in offspring,” added study co-author and neuroscientist Catherine Peña... (MORE - details)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Does this undermine free will? You have no control over your origins and initial identity, since you have to exist in the first place to in order accomplish or perform any _X_ (time travel to the past to undo one's very genesis is not possible). So insane versions of free will that demand impossible standards like self-determining the physical characteristics of one's own body and the environment that one is raised in, (etc) are dead out of the starting gate. We're obligated to define free will in ways that are actually attainable, not output and advocate deranged spectacle. And here that pertains to ignoring the fatalism of genetics and consciously asserting control over one's life as much as possible. That also entails the ability to reprogram one's self to different preferences and habits, if the old learned or acquired ones are leading to disastrous consequences.
