geneticist:

(via)

All of us living things are just really, really, really distant relatives.

(Source: http://geneticist.tumblr.com)

“Smokers whose genetic makeup puts them at the greatest risk for heavy smoking, nicotine addiction and problems kicking the habit also appear to be the same people who respond most robustly to pharmacologic therapy for smoking cessation,” says senior investigator Laura Jean Bierut, MD, professor of psychiatry. “Our research suggests that a person’s genetic makeup can help us better predict who is most likely to respond to drug therapy so we can make sure those individuals are treated with medication in addition to counseling or other interventions.” Learning how addiction works would be a huge boon, especially if we found a way to diminish or turn off addictive tendencies. Besides obvious ethical issues, this could also lead to “non-addictive” drug advertising (good and bad: smoking will kill you whether you’re addicted or not) as well as more personalized treatments for a number of illnesses.

Genes found to determine if smoking therapies will be effective