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The idea that the changes you make to your body will be passed on is a very old one, but since Darwin it's been pretty much ridiculed. For it to come back is pretty big stuff.

>> ^L0cky:

The idea that the changes you make to your body will be passed on is a very old one, but since Darwin it's been pretty much ridiculed. For it to come back is pretty big stuff.


I don't think that it's been really ridiculed, epigenetic phenomena are accepted in the scientific community as very real, testable changes to the DNA and DNA packaging structures (histone acetylation/deacetylation, histone methylation, DNA methylation, etc).

I think he was referring to Lamarckism - the idea the the acquired traits of an individual were passed on to their offspring (ie. the stretching of a giraffe's neck to reach higher branches caused it's neck to lengthen, which passed to the offspring resulting in longer and longer necks.)

After Darwin, Lamarckism lost ground continuously. It has only been in the last 50 years or so that we have begun to have hints that there is a small kernel of truth in it as evidenced by epigenetic phenomena.>> ^carneval:

>> ^L0cky:
The idea that the changes you make to your body will be passed on is a very old one, but since Darwin it's been pretty much ridiculed. For it to come back is pretty big stuff.

I don't think that it's been really ridiculed, epigenetic phenomena are accepted in the scientific community as very real, testable changes to the DNA and DNA packaging structures (histone acetylation/deacetylation, histone methylation, DNA methylation, etc).

My favorite Hank show yet. I think it goes a long way to allaying the fears some people have around genetic tests deciding insurance/work application outcomes in the future.

Just one more nail in the creationist coffin..:)