Is there a Japanese phrase equivalent to "Chopstick gene" (or "Chopsticks gene")? Here's a link to a description in the scientific journal Molecular Psychiatry, and here's one to everything2.com, but the idea is this:
A naive scientist, acting in good faith, tries to determine if there's a genetic component to the ability to use chopsticks. Lo and behold, the scientist finds genetic differences between those who are good at it, and those who are bad at it. However, the findings are useless: the genetic differences have no bearing on chopstick using ability, it's just that some genetic variations are common in Asian people, and some are common in non-Asians, and the scientist didn't think of checking that.
Just to clarify, the "chopstick gene" isn't meant to be about scientists trying to argue that there are innate differences between different races based on genetic differences, such as people claiming that a so-called "warrior gene" (a different version of the MAO-A gene) is more common in Maori people than non-Maoris.
I tried doing a search based on 箸遺伝子 (the Japanese for chopstick, plus the Japanese for gene), but I didn't notice anything relevant.
The phrase "Chopstick gene" isn't very common in English, so there may not be a Japanese equivalent.