Similar heights attract

January 20, 2016

A study published in Genome Biology says that we are attracted to people we see eye-to-eye with, without the inconvenience of looking up of stooping down.

Scientists analyzed 13,000 couples and found out that genes responsible for our own height are influence what we find attractive height-wise. Basically, we are attracted to people of the same height.

Lead author, Albert Tenesa, from University of Edinburgh, says, “Our genes drive our attraction for partners of similar height to ours, i.e. tall people pair with tall people. We found that 89% of the genetic variation affecting individual preferences for height and one’s own height are shared, indicating that there’s an innate preference for partners of similar height.”

Our genes can be used to predict the height of our partner. Albert Tenesa says, “Using one partner’s genes for height, we estimated the height of the chosen partner with 13% accuracy. The similarity in height between partners is driven by the observed physical appearance of the partner, specifically their height, rather than influenced by the social or genetic structure of the population we live in.”

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Category: Education, Features

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