Benjamin Juarez

Trump: I hang out with losers because it makes be feel better. I hate guys that are very, very successful and you have to listen to their success stories. I like people that like to listen to my success.

BREAKING: Just five minutes before Trump's announcement to halt the attacks on Iran, massive trades reportedly hit the market. In one move, $1.5 billion in S&P 500 (ES) futures was bought while $192 million in oil (CL) futures was sold. These orders were 4–6x larger than anything else at the time. The trader seemingly made huge gains. Unusual.

Nature or nurture? In 2023, a researcher named Tane Kanope and colleagues published a study in the journal Genes, a peer reviewed scientific publication, where they fully sequenced the genomes of 44 elite Brazilian under-20 players from first division clubs. They then compared those genetic profiles to global population databases covering European, African, American, Asian, and South Asian populations, specifically looking at genes linked to athletic performance, things like endurance capacity, explosive power, speed, and recovery. Here is what they found. These young elite players showed significantly higher genetic differentiation in performance-related genes compared to the general population, including African populations, despite the fact that Brazilians themselves carry between 12 and 24 percent African ancestry. In plain English, the athletic genes in these players had clustered and intensified in a way that stood out even against populations with similar ancestry. Let me just break this down for you in simple English. The researchers did not find a special Brazilian football gene that the rest of the world does not have. What they found was evidence of an extremely intense filtering process. Brazil has a population of over 215 million people, an almost fanatical football culture, and a development system built on street football, futsal, and ruthless competition from a very early age. The sheer number of children playing football in Brazil every single day means that only the kids with the most naturally suited physical and cognitive profiles for the game survive the journey to elite level. Everyone else gets filtered out long before they even reach 20. So it looks like genetic superiority but is actually the result of one of the largest and most demanding natural selection process in football history. So it is not that Brazilians are born better at football. It is that Brazil's cultural system is so demanding and so vast that only the genetically best suited players make it through. And when you sequence the genomes of the ones who survived, of course they look exceptional. They are the ones who made it through a process that eliminated millions. My name is Ajoje. I am a FIFA Licensed Agent and International Sports Lawyer. I write on the Law and Business of Football, a lot. Repost and Follow if you want to read more posts like this.