Epigenetics with Dr. Moshe Szyf
Full Frame • 54m
Nature or nurture? For well over a century, the dominant understanding of inheritance was our traits are passed down to us through the DNA code from our parents.
But a growing field of study reveals that social factors, environments, and even the experiences your mother faced before you were born all could have profound impacts on your genes.
Epigenetics is the study of changes to your genes that don’t change the underlying DNA. McGill University professor Dr. Moshe Szyf is a pioneering geneticist in this field. His groundbreaking experiments show that social factors, such as maternal care, do change the offspring’s ability to adapt to stress and handle anxiety. In other words, these genetic changes happen regardless of who the biological mother is.
Up Next in Full Frame
-
Young China with Zak Dychtwald
With over 1.4 billion people China has the world’s largest population. They also have the world’s largest population of millennials with 400 million. That large group of young people will not only be the future of China, but may end up influencing much of the world. So what are China’s millennial...
-
Urban Violence in the U.S. with Rosea...
Over the past quarter century violent crime in the United States has fallen dramatically, but gun deaths are the highest they’ve been in 40 years, and few know that more than the people in Chicago. In 2018, there were 590 homicides there, the majority of them from guns, and this year is on track ...
-
Pandemic with Dr. Jeremy Brown
It happened one hundred years ago. An outbreak of influenza became the most severe global pandemic in modern history.
It was caused by a virus that originated from birds and it’s estimated that 500 million people became infected, that was about one-third of the world’s population at the time.
S...
