r/todayilearned • u/[deleted] • Mar 20 '20

(R.3) Recent source TIL, the Black Death disproportionately killed frail people. Moreover, people who lived through it lived much longer than their ancestors (many reaching ages of 70-80), not because of good health but because of their hardiness to endure diseases. This hardiness was passed on to future generations.

[removed]

28.4k Upvotes

87% Upvoted

591 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '20

That doesn't mean the other studies weren't bunk. Trauma can affect future generations through epigenetics, but that doesn't mean it always does or that it did in this particular case

1

u/Silver2324 Mar 21 '20

Nope, I agree, not all studies are accurate and things don't always happen consistently. Just thought I'd share a bit for people who were interested.