Scientists Find Olfactory "Memory" Passed Between Generations In Mice 118
New submitter Raging Bool writes "The BBC is reporting that acquired phobias or aversions by mice can be passed on to subsequent generations. From the article: 'Experiments showed that a traumatic event could affect the DNA in sperm and alter the brains and behavior of subsequent generations. A Nature Neuroscience study shows mice trained to avoid a smell passed their aversion on to their 'grandchildren.''"
Re:Take that Darwin (Score:2, Insightful)
Wrong? Darwin wrote about Natural Selection. Sounds pretty right to me.
Re:Take that Darwin (Score:5, Insightful)
Let's make sure it can be repeated before celebrating.
Re:eureka (Score:5, Insightful)
So why are IQ scores getting higher (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect)? The more we use our brain, the smarter our offspring get.
There are plenty of other, less far-fetched, explanations for the Flynn effect. This is "only" a correlation but it brings up some important issues: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IQatWoN_GDP_IQ.png [wikipedia.org]
Don't forget that intelligence is hard to define and test. The IQ test probes some correlates of intelligence, but it can be gamed and you can train for it (which is another reason to be cautious about the Flynn effect--conventional education effectively "trains" people for IQ tests and nowadays more people spend more time in education. The Flynn effect is tailing off in many 1st world countries, which is consistent with this explanation.). e.g. Digit span (forward and backward) is tested in an IQ test. Without training, most people have a hard time reaching ten digits. However, with training you can recall 100 or more digits. You haven't become smarter, you've just trained once particular thing. Ditto with other aspects of the test. This is why those "brain training" games are pseudo-scientific bollocks. They make you better at the game, they don't make you smarter. It's possible that regularly "using" your brain will stave off dementia, and experience in life counts for a lot, but nobody has shown that you become "smarter" through training.
Re:Take that Darwin (Score:2, Insightful)
Yes, the road ahead now looks a little more rubble-strewn, but when there's only one road, stopping to complain isn't going to speed the journey.
Stopping to complain? Who said anything about stopping? Celebration sounds more like stopping to me.
What scientist do you think makes more progress? The one that throws a party every time he figures out that he made a mistake? Or the one that says "damn it", and goes back to work?
(Disclaimer: IANAS, not a scientist)
Re:Mod parent up. (Score:4, Insightful)
Just to clarify, this is epigenetics. They don't believe they are altering DNA, this just changes the way the traits already encoded in the DNA are expressed.
Nothing is being passed through DNA.