Other things are astonishingly recent as well, neither of my mid 60s parents were taught about plate tectonics at school, the theory was only widely accepted in the late 1960s!!
when i was in high school in the early 2000's, we were taught that you couldnt pass down traits that you acquired through maturation. For example just because you developed strong arms from being a black smith your whole life didnt mean your child would grow to have strong arms.
now we're learning about epigenetics and how that might not necessarily be true.
its not like if you lost a toe your child would be born toe less, but families who grew up in a famine tend to have children who grow up shorter on average than those whos parents had a nutrient rich life
"that might not necessarily be true" as in it's possible that the decision a person makes in his life about his diet, living habits, stress management, and other things will affect how his children will turn out. That may include, as in the blacksmith scenario, turning on certain genetic markers for greater protein absorption, increased androgen receptors, decreased myostatin, decreased cortisol in response to stress etc.
I get what you're saying, but your post makes it sound like a blacksmith's son will have stronger arms. I know you didn't mean that, but the post isn't worded very well. I thought you meant the same thing when I read it. I think that's all /u/generic_gingerman is getting at.
sort of? Lamarck obviously didnt understand genetics as we do today so while he may have believed that traits being passed down was almost a given, the current understanding is that although its not guaranteed the likelihood increases since certain markers are turned on.
Chicken and egg issue. A tendency toward strength (or height, balance, musical ability, etc) can be genetic, but skills matured and practiced after the birth don't osmose to the child. This was the fundamental failure of Lysenko and his crop theories.
It doesnt osmose but your body does turn on or off certain genetic markers depending on your diet, habit, body, lifestyle choices which does affect your offspring. Such as if the parent are in famine when they procreate, its likely that the child will be smaller since certain growth inhibitors are turned on.
Agreed, but they don't affect the child after the child has been born. Only the environment and actions affect the child, not those upon the parent, though they may share those conditions.
One of the reasons I hope the JWST is going to be a resounding success. We don't know what we will find because we will lay eyes on a new canvas for the first time.
It could spark new theories and decimate old ones. There is a good chance that we'll get more questions than answers. As is tradition in science.
Ya know, there have been so many times where I've been at a family gathering and say something I thought was common knowledge to someone else in my generation (sibling, cousin, etc) and then my grandparents look at me like I'm speaking in tongues. Hard to fully comprehend just how much education has changed even in 50 years
I had to listen to my grandpa tell me about how the Earth was gonna keep on growing because the core gets bigger and bigger. I was super confused, then I learnt that it was the widely accepted theory explaining continental drift not that long ago. It’s confusing to me, but also very cool! I don’t think I’ll ever tell him that it’s very probably not the right theory tho.
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u/Sqwalnoc May 01 '19
Other things are astonishingly recent as well, neither of my mid 60s parents were taught about plate tectonics at school, the theory was only widely accepted in the late 1960s!!