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-...

Is one of your goals for 2026 to write more? One question I get all the time is, "How do you make time to write?" So, here is my unsolicited writing advice for the new year:

2025 was a tough year: It brought me health challenges, several grant rejections, and a grinding anxiety about the future of science. Even so, work was still a frequent source of joy and satisfaction this year, and I am grateful to reflect on the highlights:

I wrote about what disorder *isn't* in the new cross-disorder genetics paper, and why we should find that gap curious: kathrynpaigeharden.substack.com/p/whats-miss... (Not because the authors deliberately omitted it, but because data on it doesn't really exist)

For more context, see also the @nature.com News & Views article about this work, where I unpack what it means when genetic risk for psychiatric disorders overlaps with normal-range traits, including some positive associations with education-related outcomes: rdcu.be/eT4U7

1/4 Thrilled to be sharing new work published today in Nature describing the third wave of results from the PGC Cross-Disorder Group. This reflects a massive group effort to examine shared and unique genetic signal across >1 million cases for 14 psychiatric disorders. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The pivot by @cdelawalla.bsky.social from PhD student to organizer, fundraiser, and activist has been inspiring to watch. NYT explicitly crediting her organization @standupforscience.bsky.social for pushing for the articles of impeachment against worm brain guy! www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/u...

I wrote about missing heritability, "missing environmentality," and why I still think twin studies are interesting and valuable: kathrynpaigeharden.substack.com/p/twins-are-...

And almost nobody has "cancer money” of the type you need when it’s really serious which is why I’m increasingly skeptical thinking about how the idea that wealth is protective (which it is…until it’s not) causes us to overlook how ind. wealth, not Bezos wealth but like median white wealth,

The American medical system only makes a twisted sort of sense when you realize it both reflects and enforces Calvinist / prosperity gospel thinking— if you were *really* good, you wouldn’t have gotten sick

“This is sociologically rich and intellectually precise political theory of and for the moment.“

I wrote about my knee injury and recent surgery, Oliver Sacks's "A Leg to Stand On", and how a zombie Calvinism continues to distort the American health care system: open.substack.com/pub/kathrynp...

On top of everything else, this is immediately recognizable to scientists as basically every crackpot email we’ve ever received.

I spoke to @lkatfield.bsky.social about her new book, Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right www.unpopularfront.news/p/talking-to...

This paper clearly articulates what is, in my opinion, one of the major ethical problems with polygenic embryo testing companies--that they are *companies* that sell health as a private commodity. from @gaiaghirardi.bsky.social & @arnovanhootegem.bsky.social www.fertstert.org/news-do/embr...

Eric Turkheimer (@ent3c.bsky.social) and I consider the paradoxical life of James Watson for @theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com/science/2025... (nonpaywalled link to come)

My kid’s middle school has started doing “student-led” conferences, where the student is tasked with pulling together comments & grades from their teachers, reflecting on their challenges & growth, and then giving a presentation to their parents & teachers about their goals & needs

I am scheduled for knee surgery in a few weeks. The contrast between the prehab / rehab that you get for knee surgery & what you get for a c-section (which is nothing) is WILD.

How can science build fairer, more resilient societies? Join us in Turku for the 3rd INVEST Conference 6–8 May 2026. Keynotes by Kathryn Paige Harden @kph3k.bsky.social (first time in Finland!) and Philip N. Cohen @philipncohen.com Save the date now! invest.utu.fi/conference/ #INVESTconference

FURIOUS MINDS by @lkatfield.bsky.social reviewed in NYRB as "the most up-to-date introduction we have to the MAGA intellectual right reshaping America with astonishing speed today."

We are late to this party, but if you are looking for an opportunity to have a conversation with your tween daughter about perfectionism, negative emotions, critical self-talk, watching KPop Demon Hunters together is the *perfect* opening