MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
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Hits of the Day
A Thing or Two About Twins
By artappraiser on Tue, 01/03/2012 - 12:38am |By Peter Miller, National Geographic, Jan. 2012
[....] Lately...twin studies have helped lead scientists to a radical, almost heretical new conclusion: that nature and nurture are not the only elemental forces at work. According to a recent field called epigenetics, there is a third factor also in play, one that in some cases serves as a bridge between the environment and our genes, and in others operates on its own to shape who we are [....]
URL:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/01/twins/miller-text
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Comments
If instead of "nature versus nurture", one uses the almost equivalent "environment versus genetics", this "third factor" is covered under "environment", although that also underscores the "almost" in "almost equivalent".
by Verified Atheist on Tue, 01/03/2012 - 10:58am
this "third factor" is covered under "environment",
Not necessarily. One documentary showed a cloned litter of kittens with as much variation in coloring as a normal litter.
It is way too soon in genetic studies to claim any final answers.
by EmmaZahn on Tue, 01/03/2012 - 4:10pm
Perhaps my definition of "environment" is looser than yours (or the average person's), but I include womb conditions as part of that. Differences in coat color are governed primarily by epi-genetics, which in this particular case are a bit like rolling a die (or to be more precise, they're strongly non-linear). A little more chemical in this part of the womb or that part and one kitten has one pattern and another kitten, with the exact same genes, has a different pattern (or even color).
by Verified Atheist on Tue, 01/03/2012 - 7:44pm
I am not going to be able to join you in arguing with a National Geographic cover story, as even that low level of biological science is somewhat over my head. (Somehow I got through Botany 101 to fulfill the undergrad biological science requirement, but even in that they had a DNA/RNA section that pulled me down to my only C on my record. I just don't wanna git it, give me physics instead anytime.)
by artappraiser on Tue, 01/03/2012 - 8:29pm
May I recommend The Cartoon Guide to Genetics? (Seriously, that's an outstanding book.) There's also a Cartoon Guide to Physics that I actually used while teaching public high school instead of the godawful text book I was supposed to use. (Well, I did occasionally use the text book for the one or two topics not covered in the cartoon guide, but besides the cartoon guide being a more enjoyable read, it was also more accurate - not a single error in it, unlike our text book.)
Larry Gonick has written a lot of Cartoon Guides. I think I've read and enjoyed every single last one.
by Verified Atheist on Tue, 01/03/2012 - 8:41pm
by Donal on Tue, 01/03/2012 - 8:52pm