A new study has revealed that nearly 700genetic variations determine human height which could aid researchers fight stature-related diseases. The study from the international Genetic Investigation of Anthropometric Traits (GIANT) Consortium shared and analyzed data from the genomes of 253288 people. They checked about two million common genetic variants (those that showed up in at least 5 percent of their subjects). From this pool they pinned down 697 (in 424 gene regions) as being related to height the largest number to date associated with any trait or disease. Joel Hirschhorn MD PhD of Boston Children's Hospital and the Broad Institute