Did anyone catch this program on Nova this week? It was interesting to hear about epigenetics and how highly nurturing mother rats create some mark in the genes that marks the memory. They also discussed how the impact of famine is captured by genes and affects grandchildren two generations later.
We are changing the view of what inheritance is. You can't, in life, in ordinary development and living, separate out the gene from the environmental effect. They're so intertwined.
I've been thinking about this in terms of giftedness and it gave a whole new twist to Grinity's rallying cry of "for the grandchildren!"
The full show transcript can be viewed here:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3413_genes.html
