For my seminar today, the speaker is going to be lecturing about "epigenetics" for two hours. Now, this is a word I probably hadn't heard before reading an insightful review on the topic.
Basically, epigenetics asks the questions about both nature and nurture when determining a phenotype. Epigenetic inheritance is when the experiences of parents directly affect the expression of genes in offspring. Also, the initial definition of the word "meme" comes in to play here. It was thought that memes explained epiginetic inheritance.
However, findings in the field of epigenetics hold little clout, as there is not enough evidence to back up the claim of gene rememberance. The article also brings up Lamarckism, the concept that we all remember from high school biology, in which Lamark thought that giraffes had developed long necks due to generations of giraffes stretching their necks to reach food, thus affecting DNA. Instead, epigenetics inheritance does not rewrite DNA, but modifies the gene expression in offspring. This must be where the whole "If your maternal grandfather was bald, you'll be bald too" thing comes from.
I like this stuff. I can't wait until my seminar later.
Obligatory wikipedia links:
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