Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Your Environment May Change Your Genes

Posted by timothy on from the that-giraffe's-neck-still-won't-grow dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Recent experiments indicate that your environment alters your genes. The longer identical twins live apart, the more their "epigenomes" (genetic sequences that activate or suppress other genes) differ. This possibility could cause a radical shift in the assumptions of biological inheritance (namely that, with minor exceptions, an individual's genes do not change), and indicates the possibility of return of Larmarckian inheritance which had formerly been consigned to the dustbin of biology."

5 of 65 comments (clear)

  1. Genes or Jeans? by FrontalLobe · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'll be interested when my environment can change my jeans... I'm lazy...

    --
    -FL
    1. Re:Genes or Jeans? by Alsee · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'll be interested when my environment can change my jeans... I'm lazy.

      Be careful what you ask for. You might wake up and find yourself in a pair of bell-bottoms.

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  2. It sure does by Apreche · · Score: 4, Funny

    If your environment is a radioactive waste dump you can be damn sure it will change your DNA.

    --
    The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
  3. Re:Misleading headline by vandon · · Score: 3, Funny

    Headline: Slashdot now banned in Kansas and Serbia!
    Probably in a few other places too.

  4. Genes altered by the environment by TheUnknownCoder · · Score: 3, Funny
    Genes altered by the environment:

    Gene Hackman: Jailed as a teen in 1946 for stealing candy & soda pop from a convenience store now lives a wealthy life in New Mexico.
    What's causing the mutation: With more than 70 movies to date, strong light sources constantly shining on his forehead can be traced as the culprit.

    Demitria Gene , a.k.a. Demi Moore: From spending her minimum-wage hard-earned money with coke to earning $12,500,000 per movie and dating a kid who could be her grandson.
    What's causing the mutation: Not really sure... Could be frequent exposures of her bare body to the cameras or the many plastic surgeries she had done.

    --
    Uncopyrightable: The longest word you can write without repeating a letter.