A parent’s or grandparent’s stressful experiences change how their offspring behave. And it turns out that moms’ experiences produce different changes in kids than dads’.
If the same mechanism exists in humans, it may explain health differences in children conceived by older fathers.
fotografixx/E+ via Getty Images
Scientists are revealing the extent to which our behaviour is influenced by our genes, calling into question our capacity for free will. But there is still scope for change.
According to the Norse sagas, the kraken terrorized sailors off the coasts of Norway and Greenland.
(John Gibson)
Jumbo squids live in extreme environments. Tiny genetic modifications allow them to move back and forth from the surface of the ocean to its bottom, killing and eating everything in their path.
New research provides a template for understanding the role of genetic switches in the development of complex diseases whose causes have so far evaded scrutiny.
Stressors put on children and adolescents as a result of the pandemic response may have long-lasting effects on their health and well-being.
(Shutterstock)
The pandemic response has put the long-term health and well-being of children and adolescents at risk, with the possibility of seismic shifts in population health if we do not act.
The neighbourhood a child grows up in may influence their health for years to come by changing the activity of their genes.
Sergey Bezgodov/ Shutterstock
Pediatric epigenetic clocks have the potential to accurately assess biological age. However, possible applications in law enforcement and immigration raise ethical issues.
The male bluehead wrasse defends his group of yellow females, one of whom has to step-up and take charge if he leaves.
Kevin Bryant
When a male bluehead wrasse is removed from the group he dominates, the largest female changes sex, rapidly transforming ovaries into sperm-producing testes. Molecular research shows how.
Bill Sullivan, Indiana University School of Medicine
A new study of nearly 500,000 individuals finds that many genes affect same-sex behavior, including newly identified candidates that may regulate smell and sex hormones.
Adults born via IVF are as healthy as their naturally conceived peers.
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You may think that your milk-drinking, ice cream-licking days are behind you as you battle the discomfort of lactose intolerance. But there maybe be a way to reverse the situation.
Discovering a genetic basis for erectile dysfunction that is linked to Type-2 diabetes will make it easier to identify those at risk – and novel treatments.
Separating children from their parents is not just a psychological stress, it’s a DNA stress. Scientific research shows that early life stress may have irreversible effects on how DNA works in the cells of the body.
A boy stares out of a heavily tinted bus window leaving a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility, Tuesday, June 19, 2018, in McAllen, Texas.
AP Photo/Eric Gay
The traumatic separations of children and parents initiated at the border can cause permanent changes in the structure of the infants’ and children’s brains and the activity of their genes.