Analysis of the data showed which likes equated with higher levels of particular traits.
Offspring developed particular traits because they inherited certain versions of genes.
The most effective tests of animal intelligence, he argues, are designed according to a species' particular traits and skills.
"We now know why birds with particular traits survive better as well as the genes underlying these traits," Losos said.
Furthermore, these great leaders were thought to have been born with particular traits that accorded them greatness.
Churchill's famous quotation about Russia implied that understanding the national interest was more predictable than trying to understand the particular traits and habits of a foreign culture.
Dr Arbuckle and Dr Speed analysed these data by fitting them to a model that estimates how particular traits affect speciation and extinction rates.
The scientists then looked at markers for individual genes that previous studies had linked to particular traits.
The researchers analysed DNA from around 2,500 seedlings that germinated in 2013, and identified promising varieties based on genetic sequences that they had associated with particular traits.
The current research on anticancer drugs focuses on exploiting particular traits or hallmarks unique to cancer cells.
It's also important to bear in mind that genes rarely guarantee any particular traits; instead, they tend to be associated with them.
