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Born and Raised

Born and Raised

By: ESSGN
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About this listen

What is happening at the intersection between genetics and the social sciences? In this podcast series, hosts Rafael Ahlskog and Aysu Okbay talk to leading researchers in the exciting new field of social science genetics about their life and work. Born and Raised is produced by the European Social Science Genetics Network.

Copyright 2026 All rights reserved.
Science
Episodes
  • 3. Laurel Raffington on all things epigenetics
    Feb 20 2026

    Curious about epigenetics? Dive right in! In this episode, Laurel Raffington gets a visit from the Born and Raised crew in her beautiful office at the Max Planck institute in Berlin. We learn about all things epigenetics - clocks, scores, inheritance - and about their connections to things like socioeconomic deprivation. The ethics and history of doing sociogenomic research in a context like Germany is also discussed. And how does lifting weights fit into all of this? Stay tuned to find out!

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    41 mins
  • 2. Sjoerd van Alten on economics and genetic methods
    Feb 6 2026

    In this episode, our hosts visit economist Sjoerd van Alten in his office at the Vrije Universiteit. Why would an economist be interested in genetics? How does one use molecular genetic data to study genetic effects on complex social and economic traits? What are genome-wide association studies, polygenic indexes, and how do we get from correlation to causation? These and many more questions are answered in this episode!

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    41 mins
  • 1. Abdel Abdellaoui on social science genetics
    Jan 23 2026

    In this very first episode of Born and Raised, hosts Rafael and Aysu visit behavior geneticist Abdel Abdellaoui in his office at the Amsterdam University Medical Center. They talk about the nature of social science genetics as a field, about responsible research communication, and we also get to learn some shocking facts about Abdel's past!

    Brought to you by the European Social Science Genetics Network: https://essgn.org/

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    31 mins
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