a million people without it. they spotted differences in their genes, but interestingly, the differences are similar to those that you might see in someone with anxiety, depression, or insomnia. what that tells us is that these conditions are likely to have a shared genetic origin. they are coming from the same place, effectively, and some of that is hard—wired. does that mean basically you could be born with a gene that could either give you ibs or anxiety or both, there's nothing you can do about it? yes, that's absolutely true and that's part of what we've demonstrated. some people who inherit these genetic variants, they may get ibs, other people may get anxiety, and some people will get both of those conditions. they are sort of hard—wired, if you like. ultimately, these findings could lead to new treatments. it gives us a new window on how we think about the management of ibs. a lot of treatments so far have very much focused on the gut and the abdomen and dietary therapies, and those do work for some people, but not for everybody.