When a dear colleague @hdobewall.bsky.social attends a conference and gets you a book by @kph3k.bsky.social. 🤩 Sad to have missed the @invest-flagship.bsky.social conference and the excellent keynotes, but I have great summer reading. 😎

OMG OMG OMG Congratulations @dingdingpeng.the100.ci !

What can behavioral genetics tell us about the propensity for vice & violence? How do echos of religious views of sin shape our modern understanding & its implications? We're Rethinking Sin... Again on How God Works with Paige Harden @kph3k.bsky.social youtu.be/WB3s7J0rgUU?... @prx.org

On our new episode, I talk with Paige Harden (@kph3k.bsky.social) about the behavioral genetics of sin, the virtues (if any) of punishment, and how ancient religious ideas around vice & virtue continue to shape our science, policy, and discourse. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...

Book 72. Another super-accessible and thought-provoking read from @kph3k.bsky.social. Using personal, anecdotes, historical accounts, and stories “ripped from the headlines” to have us reexamine snap judgements, shift perspectives, and sit with uncomfortable realities. #amreading #booksky 📚

I am enjoying @kph3k.bsky.social 's book beyond expectations, which really makes you stop and think. The most unexpected consequence, though, is that next on my reading list is Sant'Agostino Confessions; something I always rated as a "mattone" (= brick 🧱 in Italian to indicate a boring book)

The @nytimes.com Book Review praises ORIGINAL SIN as "a daring, complex, sometimes confounding and ultimately powerful tapestry of a book." I'm absolutely thrilled by this review, which captures "the dialectical work" at the heart of my project.

ORIGINAL SIN reviewed in Science (@science.org)! "... an ambitious, compact, and often moving contribution to the literature at the intersection of genetics and ethics."

I woke up to a fantastic review of ORIGINAL SIN in @thetimes.com: "This is a serious and knotty book ... but it can be beautiful. ... Ultimately, this is a well-informed attack on an American style of justice that relies on notions of sin and punishment. ... a darkly glittering book."

Starting @kph3k.bsky.social’s latest and am loving that we’re in an age where serious thinkers talk openly about their experiences with psychedelics and the insights they gleaned from them.

“ERFZONDE” now out in Dutch translation! I’m particularly excited about this edition because of the outsized role that Dutch scientists have played & still play in the genomics revolution. To all my Netherlands BG colleagues, this is a love letter to your work www.debezigebij.nl/boek/erfzonde/

'Behavioural genetics makes people uncomfortable because it gets at the fundamental tension of being human, “which is that we are both caused creatures and experience ourselves to be subjective agents” '. New interview in @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/culture/inte...

I talked with @nautil.us about LSD, MAHA, eugenics, essentialism, Christ on the cross, and all the things I don't know: nautil.us/the-bad-seed...

I woke up to a fantastic review of ORIGINAL SIN in @thetimes.com: "This is a serious and knotty book ... but it can be beautiful. ... Ultimately, this is a well-informed attack on an American style of justice that relies on notions of sin and punishment. ... a darkly glittering book."

My dear friend Paige Harden and I both have new books out, and both are about crime & punishment — but from different (though still evidence-based) perspectives.

Episode 147 "The Genetics of Vice" is out ✨ In this episode, we talk with Kathryn Paige Harden @kph3k.bsky.social, a Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, where she leads the Developmental Behavior Genetics lab and teaches Introduction to Psychology.

ORiGINAL SIN reviewed in @theguardian.com: “Harden is exceptionally skilled at interweaving the personal and the scientific. She writes about her own life experiences … with rare, dangerous honesty” www.theguardian.com/books/2026/a...

"...Much of Harden’s prose is dazzling on the sentence level, in the vein of neurosurgeon Paul Kalanithi’s posthumously published 'When Breath Becomes Air.'" A wonderful review of ORIGINAL SIN in @undark.org: undark.org/2026/03/27/b...

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Original Sin by @kph3k.bsky.social , an evidence-based yet personal account from a scientist’s perspective. Daisy liked it too because of the bit about her family dog 🐕

The @nytimes.com Book Review praises ORIGINAL SIN as "a daring, complex, sometimes confounding and ultimately powerful tapestry of a book." I'm absolutely thrilled by this review, which captures "the dialectical work" at the heart of my project.

ORIGINAL SIN reviewed in Science (@science.org)! "... an ambitious, compact, and often moving contribution to the literature at the intersection of genetics and ethics."

Tonight (3/19)! Free and in-person at Harvard Book Store. Come talk about the science of sin & punishment with me and Rebecca Saxe (MIT). (It’s such a novel topic my phone tried to auto-correct “sin” to “sun” at least 5 times while writing this message.)

I had the opportunity to talk about my new book, Original Sin, with Dax Shepard and Monica Padman for their Armchair Expert podcast. They were dream conversation partners who engaged with the science, the philosophy, and the lived experience of addiction. Full conversation here: youtu.be/FUgexgsSBuU

Just finished @kph3k.bsky.social’s “Original Sin” about genetic (and environmental) influences on behaviors that we morally condemn, and their implications for how we think about blame and justice. Greatly enjoyed reading this one!>

next week! I will be in conversation with Rebecca Saxe from MIT about ideas from my new book, ORIGINAL SIN. In-person and free at Harvard Book Store.

It's publication day for ORIGINAL SIN! On Substack, I wrote about my pub day jitters, and what my 3-year-old has to teach me about making art: kathrynpaigeharden.substack.com/p/i-have-alr...

Prepping for our next interview on @bigbiology.bsky.social…great read on a great Florida day, @kph3k.bsky.social !

ORIGINAL SIN comes out on Tuesday! If you’re in the US & want a signed copy, order from Black Pearl Books in the next week. Just be sure to note that you want it signed (& any instructions about the inscription) in the order notes at checkout. shop.blackpearlbookstore.com/item/ymASTSS...

GENETICS: @kph3k.bsky.social from @universityoftexas.bsky.social highlighted a major gap in psychiatric genetics: conduct disorder is common, serious, and moderately heritable, yet has been dramatically understudied. #AGBTGM26

I had fun talking with the "Love Factually" boys about Fatal Attraction, the 1987 movie in which every main character commits some act of violence. Whose violence is the audience rooting for? Whose violence did they want to see punished? And what can that teach us? podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/f...

Boston-area folks: I will be presenting on ORIGINAL SIN at Harvard Book Store on March 19. Come say hi & ask me questions! www.harvard.com/event/kathry...

4/ With such a large and diverse sample, we identified many genes associated with externalizing: Across 1,294 genomic loci and 647 fine-mapped SNPs, we pinpointed 961 effector genes, including known biology (e.g., CADM2, BDNF) and novel discoveries (e.g., SLC17A6, NRN1)!

Our multi-ancestry GWAS of EXTernalizing conditions (ADHD, substance use...) in ~4M people reveals neurodevelopmental risk, drug-repurposing targets, and yields one of the strongest psychiatric polygenic indices yet! 🧬🎉 doi.org/10.64898/202...

My new book will be released in less than 1 month! On Substack, I describe a letter I received that radically reshaped the book: A man in prison for a sexually violent crime asked me, "What makes a child go bad--nature or nurture?" kathrynpaigeharden.substack.com/p/what-makes...

📢🧬 Call for Papers — 5th ESSGN Conference 📍 Bologna, May 21–22, 2026 I’ll be co-organising the 5th ESSGN conference in Bologna together with Nicola Barban, Stephanie von Hinke, Paul Hufe, and Niels Rietveld @essgn.bsky.social 📄 Submit here: forms.gle/fmVDUrQqQYju... 🗓 Deadline: 1 March 2026

Goodreads is giving away 10 free copies of my new book, ORIGINAL SIN (and nearly 1000 people have already signed up!). Enter here for your chance to get a free book, ahead of publication day: www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...

European colleagues who don't want to travel to the US for PAA should come to Finland for @invest-flagship.bsky.social instead!

Join us in Turku, Finland for the 3rd @invest-flagship.bsky.social conference; May 6-8, 2026. This year's topic is "Building equal societies: from scientific findings to societal transformation" with excizing and timely keynotes by Prof. Harden @kph3k.bsky.social and Prof. Cohen @philipncohen.com

surest sign that we need to get the pipes wrapped and the generator ready

AGBT General Meeting Featured Speaker: Dr. Kathryn Paige Harden (kph3k.bsky.social), Professor of Psychology at @utaustin.bsky.social & author. At AGBTGM26, she’ll explore how moral beliefs shape science, and how transcending the “moral vs. biological” divide can open new paths for discovery.

I talked with the great @kph3k.bsky.social about her fascinating new book, Original Sin, and whether we're doomed (or blessed!) to turn out just like our parents substack.com/home/post/p-...

“police use lies—both in their work and in the court of public opinion—to deploy a set of strategic narratives that bolsters their budgets, powers, and quest to be seen as the only means of safety available“

Comments on this article show how evidence of biology’s role in a behavior doesn’t *erase* moral beliefs about that behavior, but rather interacts w/ moral beliefs in complicated ways See eg Interesting paper by Sydney Scott: ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jobhdp...

These articles revlea people's uniquely twisted/nasty views about weight & health. Have been reading an early copy @kph3k.bsky.social book on the "genetics of sin" (order it!), & I am convinved we need to confront people's gut instincts about health, it matters and is weaponised (see vaccines).

advance copies of my new book are now out in the world! pub day is on 3.3.26 & preorders are a love language ❤️

SF folks! I'm going to be talking to @pauleastwick.bsky.social about his EXCELLENT new book on Feb 13 at the Commonwealth Club. Come to hear the *real* science of relationships (not the manosphere pseudoscience), stay for a Valentine's Day dance party www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2026-...

SF folks! I'm going to be talking to @pauleastwick.bsky.social about his EXCELLENT new book on Feb 13 at the Commonwealth Club. Come to hear the *real* science of relationships (not the manosphere pseudoscience), stay for a Valentine's Day dance party www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2026-...

reposting for the Monday crowd— This week in my newsletter I discussed the “Have your best baby” campaign by Nucleus Genomics as an example of what @gaiaghirardi.bsky.social and @arnovanhootegem.bsky.social have called “commodification on steroids” open.substack.com/pub/kathrynp...

I wonder about these questions a lot! I can also see a very logical extension to GLP-1s - as a fat person who is not interested in those medications, I’m starting to see subtle shifts from pity to confusion about my size (if she has money and health care, why ISN’T she on a GLP-1?).

I wrote about Nucleus Genomics' "Have your best baby" ad campaign and Kris Jenner's "best version of myself" facelift, the parallels between embryo selection and cosmetic surgery, and competing definitions of "eugenics" kathrynpaigeharden.substack.com/p/have-your-...