Is Epigenetic Inheritance Real?

Epigenetic inheritance is really weird, but is it real?
↓ More info and sources below ↓

Want more on epigenetic inheritance? Start here:

Dig deeper:

Szyf, Moshe. "Nongenetic inheritance and transgenerational epigenetics."Trends in molecular medicine 21.2 (2015): 134-144.
Sharma, Abhay. "Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance requires a much deeper analysis." Trends in molecular medicine 21.5 (2015): 269-270.
Heard, Edith, and Robert A. Martienssen. "Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance: myths and mechanisms." Cell 157.1 (2014): 95-109.
Rando, Oliver J. "Daddy issues: paternal effects on phenotype." Cell 151.4 (2012): 702-708.
Jablonka, Eva, and Gal Raz. "Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance: prevalence, mechanisms, and implications for the study of heredity and evolution." The Quarterly review of biology 84.2 (2009): 131-176.
Heijmans, Bastiaan T., et al. "Persistent epigenetic differences associated with prenatal exposure to famine in humans." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105.44 (2008): 17046-17049.
Pembrey, Marcus, et al. "Human transgenerational responses to early-life experience: potential impact on development, health and biomedical research." Journal of medical genetics (2014): jmedgenet-2014.

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[RainAngel]

that parent child grandchild image just blew my mind.

The eggs that will one day become my future kids were with me when I was an embryo, so all three generations are present in at least a partial form.

[besmart]

Does this mean that what I had for breakfast today will determine my children's destiny? I'm not sure, but I do know that epigenetic inheritance is equal parts controversial and interesting.
Sure, it's got more questions than answers, but that just means we have a lot more to learn about it. Get to it, scientists of tomorrow!

[Angelwitch]

For 20 years I didn't know my birth father who left before I was born. Last year I finally found him and we were both surprised to find that we were similar in beliefs, personalities, even likes and dislikes even though my mother differed from us in many of these and hadn't told me much about him growing up

[RedLeader]

Humans: "we'll figure out nature!"

Nature: "lol, nope."

[jouz]

That part where they say we were once inside our maternal grandmas. Really shows how how we treat people might have consequences, not only now but in generations in the future... even amongst kids we might never get a chance to meet. So interesting.

[themasstermwahahahah]

So did my parents set me up for being fat

[deck]

IT´S NOT OK TO BE SMART, IT´S GREAT TO BE SMART!

[tylerb]

Now this is some fascinating information. I am studying biology and this sort of thing is amazing. So complex, yet so articulate and beautiful.

[manishbharambe]

I am studying engineering but i love biology too....and you make it even more interesting

[nonenone]

I absolutely love this channel! You guys always give us something to think about critically. Thank you!

[seeker]

We had this topic in our biology class recently...really interesting and it brings up some ethical questions.

[noahway]

How do they breed dogs that love to fetch a ball? Retrievers ? DNA can alter not just looks and health, but behaviors...? I think this is how migration and other animal behaviors are passed on.

[vemonds]

I see you have a reference to Jablonka's work. It's well worth reading her book 'Evolution in Four Dimensions', which explores the interesting interactions and interrelations between genetic, epigenetic, behavioral and symbolic inheritance systems.

[westafricangooner]

I read about this somewhere else too. The evidence for epigenetics is strong. And it's scary. Staying healthy for men during conception has never been thought of as a problem but it could be that a man or woman smoking during conception could be as harmful as women smoking during pregnancy. Imagine that

[ratatouille]

I suppose this means that there are always new things that our science know little or nothing about.

[Silmerano]

My dad got into a car accident before I was born that dented his skull. I was born with the exact same dent in the exact same spot. I always wondered if it was somehow passed on to me genetically.

[davidsweeney]

I inherited my parents ability to copy fantastic YouTube comments! :)

[No__direction__]

Meanwhile all I inherited was mental illness, anger issues and toxicity :( You have no idea how hard it is to stop myself from being a toxic a** hole. Thanks a lot, dad! :(

[AlexDincht]

So, huh, my mother having felt sick from the smell of fish in the early stages of her pregnancy might have activated gene flags in my developing embryo resulting in my lifelong fish intolerance? My body treats it as if it were poison (i.e.: immediate expulsion, no questions asked), so that could be due to misled exposure by proxy which resulted into my genes activating to identify it as poison?

[joshbray]

Speaking of which, we did a test on this LITERALLY today! Great timing.