Epigenetics
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Toward the end of my full-time tenure at The Current I started appearing on air more, chatting about different subjects. Here is one such piece. Epigenetics has profound implications for what it means to be human. Not only are genes not fate, it also seems as though their expression in life is shaped by the experience of our ancestors, who continue on inside us, their lived decisions echoing through the genome. Or that’s my slightly poetic gloss, anyway. Features interviews with McGill University’s Moshe Szyf, and Tel Aviv University’s Eva Jablonka, who wrote a brilliant book called Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic Variation in the History of Life. Those interested in a more expansive view of human nature should check it out.