Epigenetics is the science of living DNA, charting the chemical pathways that spur DNA into action by turning genes on and off. This rapidly advancing field has overturned traditional ideas about heredity, revealing that both behavior and the environment can affect the way our genes work. Adding a new twist to the nature-versus-nurture debate, epigenetics researchers have discovered that:
• We Inherit More Than We Suspect. Changes that affect the activity of DNA can be passed from parents to children. • Epigenetics Works Quickly. Twenty minutes of exercise or just one meal can transform how your genes function. • Pollution Gums Up Genetic Machinery. Pollution from a wide range of chemicals has a long-lasting effect on gene expression.
While the Human Genome Project of the early 2000s was hailed as the key to understanding human heredity and disease, this historic effort was just the beginning. It has taken epigenetics to fill in the picture, explaining how the fixed code of our genome is implemented in countless cellular activities. The same goes for the genomes of every living thing on Earth; epigenetics calls the shots.
Epigenetics: How Environment Changes Your Biology covers this vital science in 12 in-depth, half-hour lectures, presented by noted British epigeneticist, physician, and science communicator Dr. Charlotte Mykura.
Lively and authoritative, Dr. Mykura explains how epigenetics is ubiquitous, influenced by activities like diet and lifestyle. For example, aging is largely an epigenetic phenomenon. So is our susceptibility to many diseases, as well as our body's ability to fight infection. You learn how epigenetics governs the X and Y chromosomes, the miraculous process of building an embryo, and the transmission of environmental experience between generations. And you investigate how epigenetics evolved in the first place and where the epigenetic universe might take us next, especially in the realm of medicine.
