That may have been the original claim, but as you say, it's mildly ridiculous to think such a complex phenomenon is the result of a single gene. And that claim has since morphed into "if your mother's father is bald then you will be bald" (or some variation of that) in the popular understanding, which my anecdote does refute.
Oh, sure (and I wasn't really arguing with you--just expanding on what you said). Like I said, this isn't my area of expertise so I don't know the details of the heritability here, but I'd be more than a little surprised if it were something as simple as (say) eye color. Very, very few phenotypic traits are straightforward in that high school textbook Punnet Square way.
My maternal grandfather was totally bald by the time he was 25, and I also still have no sign of going bald at nearly 40. Genetics is complicated.
That may have been the original claim, but as you say, it's mildly ridiculous to think such a complex phenomenon is the result of a single gene. And that claim has since morphed into "if your mother's father is bald then you will be bald" (or some variation of that) in the popular understanding, which my anecdote does refute.
Oh, sure (and I wasn't really arguing with you--just expanding on what you said). Like I said, this isn't my area of expertise so I don't know the details of the heritability here, but I'd be more than a little surprised if it were something as simple as (say) eye color. Very, very few phenotypic traits are straightforward in that high school textbook Punnet Square way.
My maternal grandfather was totally bald by the time he was 25, and I also still have no sign of going bald at nearly 40. Genetics is complicated.