Gregory Cochran
| Gregory M. Cochran | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1953 (age 58–59) |
| Citizenship | American |
| Fields | Physics, Anthropology |
| Institutions | University of Utah |
| Alma mater | University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign |
| Known for | Pathogenic theory of homosexuality, Theory of Ashkenazi Intelligence, The 10,000 Year Explosion |
Gregory M. Cochran (born 1953) is a physicist and adjunct professor of anthropology at the University of Utah who has developed some new hypotheses in evolutionary medicine and genetic anthropology. Cochran is known for several controversial theories.
Cochran is an occasional contributor to the genetics blog Gene Expression. He is also the co-author of the book The 10,000 Year Explosion, which was released in January 2009.
Contents |
[edit] Pathogen theories
Many of Cochran's theories are pathogenic theories of disease—they revolve around the idea that many common diseases are caused by pathogens instead of genetics or other environmental factors. One example is that peptic ulcers once was thought to occur because of stress by chance or because of genetic considerations. However, there is a great deal of evidence which strongly suggests that some peptic ulcers are caused by the pathogenic bacteria Helicobacter pylori. As well, cervical cancer is now thought to be strongly due to the presence of the human papilloma virus.
In 2005, the American Academy of Microbiology endorsed liberalizing Koch's postulates, which have been the basis for determining if a disease is infectious since the 19th century, along the lines Cochran and Ewald proposed.[1]
[edit] Pathogenic theory of homosexuality
The Pathogenic theory of homosexuality (informally, the gay germ theory) is controversial speculation to the effect that the proximal cause of homosexuality must be environmental, specifically in the form of a hypothesized pathogen (bacteria or virus), based largely on the premise that, because homosexuality reduces significantly the number of resulting offspring, natural selection would not have bred any genes responsible for homosexuality to the observed level of prevalence of exclusive homosexuality (3 to 4 percent of men and 1 to 2 percent of women in the United States). Homosexuality is proposed to be an instance, or example, of the general proposition that any condition, which carries a high fitness cost in evolutionary terms, and occurs at a frequency above that of random mutation (~ 1 in 50,000), and is unrelated to novel environmental hazards, will eventually be found to be related to a germ or pathogen. No specific evidence for a pathogen in this instance has been adduced, to date.
[edit] Genetic theories
[edit] Natural history of Ashkenazi intelligence
Cochran and co-authors Jason Hardy and Henry Harpending suggest that the widely observed high average IQ of Ashkenazi Jews may be attributed to the history of that particular subgroup of the Jewish people, including its emphasis on jobs with a high demand on intellectual capacities and low rate of genetic inflow. Cochran et al. hypothesise that this may have evolutionarily selected the very intelligent, and that this may explain the high rate of hereditary neurological disorders in this group. The paper was covered in The New York Times and The Economist, and was controversial due to its linking of race and intelligence.
[edit] External links
- Official profile at edge.org
- A New Germ Theory. Originally published in The Atlantic Monthly magazine, February 1999
- "In our Genes" - Commentary by Cochran and Harpending on paper showing "the allele associated with ADHD has increased a lot in frequency within the last few thousands to tens of thousands of years" - National Academy of Sciences, 2002
- "Bush’s Napoleon Complex: What the French experience in Spain could teach us about Iraq" by Gregory Cochran The American Conservative,March 28, 2005
- Researchers Say Intelligence and Diseases May Be Linked in Ashkenazic Genes -- from The New York Times
- "IQ And Disease: The Curious Case of the Ashkenazi Jews" by Steve Sailer, covering a broad perspective on Cochran and his work.
- The Infection Connection by Harriet Washington, Psychology Today, Jul/Aug 99, Examines the possible connection of microorganisms with psychological problems.
- An Evolutionary Look at Human Homosexuality by Gregory Cochran (original publication date unknown)
- Unofficial Greg Cochran fan site
- Video (with audio only available) of conversation with Cochran on Bloggingheads.tv
- Interview with Cochran on "New Books in History."
