Where genetics was once capable of pinning down only rare mutations with a catastrophic impact, it is now tracing variants with smaller effects that are much more widespread. You might call it the democratisation of the genome.

“What we are going to get out of this in the end is not genetic engineering, but environmental engineering,” Dr Plomin said. “A lot is going to be about changing behaviour, about education. It’s not always going to be: you’ve got this genetic problem and here’s a pill. Most genetic effects are going to be too small for that.”