In the same way that developmental scientists pay careful attention to the measurement of their outcomes of interest and potential environmental factors of relevance, the same care must be taken in characterizing genes of interest when research programs are expanded in this direction. The genetics research being carried out by developmental scientists should be of the same caliber as that being conducted in other areas of genetics, and it must keep up with the rapid advances going on in that field. Otherwise it will not be taken seriously. This does not mean that all developmental scientists need to be “gene-finders” or to carry out GWAS. But it does mean that anyone involved in this kind of research should understand the complexities of studying genetics and be connected to the latest developments in genetics. Because of the rapid pace at which the field of genetics moves, this necessitates having collaborators who are tied more centrally to the world of genetics, and/or (for the younger generation of social scientists with interest in this area) to obtain focused training in genetics, ideally through
