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by dep_b
3287 days ago
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It's an on/off situation. Genetic defects happen 1:100 when the mother is 40 and 1:100000 when the mother is 23. But in 99:100 cases the kids are as healthy as the ones of a 23 year old mother. I don't have the exact numbers but it's something in that ballpark. It's not a weak versus strong physical thing. And it would affect mental capacities at the same rate. Geeks are usually not dumber than average. |
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Everyone has a few mutations in protein coding regions, and the number rises with paternal age. Most mutations are neutral or harmful.
More rolls of the dice to accumulate more (likely small) damage is probably going to hurt you.
The way it almost certainly works is people who have better genes (for socioeconomic success in our current society) have kids later and these kids inherit these traits....
However it would probably be better if the dad had the kids younger.
It's also easier for denovo mutations to cause mental rather than physical problems as the brain is very complex so there's more genes used and more to go wrong.
PS I'm a 37 year old bioinformatician expecting a little geek in a few months :)