Of all the scientific studies that came out this past year, the most intriguing to me confirms an old theory: Adult politics are really an extension of which clique you joined in high school. That conclusion rises out of a University of California, San Diego and Harvard University study released in October that found political ideology may be heavily influenced by genetics and adolescent social life. In a study of 2,000 teens, researchers found that dopamine receptor gene DRD4, which they called the "liberal gene," may predispose people to left-progressive political views.