Heredity ain't what they taught you

Sort:
Avatar of Elroch

Looks like current work is making it more and more clear that a lot of heredity is nothing to do with what genes you have. I recall some time back experiments that showed that what rat parents got taught influenced their offspring's abilities. May help to explain the 3 points rise in IQ values every decade?

Standard genetics busted

Avatar of Timotheous

And, unfortunately, movies such as Jurassic park have filled the popular culture with views of genetics that were not even up to par when the movies were made.

I cannot remember the context, but I remember reading something along the line a few years back, in which the genetic material that seems to code for an eye in a fly was inserted into Frog DNA.

The result was an additional frog eye on the frog's back.

I may be getting that experiment totally mixed up.

But I remember that the point was that a given result was not directly the result of the genes as much as the effect and/or interpretation of those genes by the proteins and molecules circulating in the host.

That is why I don't think you could ever recreate an extinct animal.

At best, you would get the interpretation of the DNA by the animal it was inserted into.

This was a few years ago, and I have not yet clicked on your link....