SinJester said:
New research shows DNA isn't permanent. It changes. Think about this: If a guy has genes to be naturally big but is starved his child would be smaller. Why? Its evolutionary, if the child is smaller it has less need for food and will be more likely to survive. Hang on maybe that is not 100% correct, but if a women is starved, the child will be smaller because it is easier for the kid to come out, if ya see what I mean. Research has proved this through studying skeletons of people that went through famines etc, and also people who had an immunity to the black plague, the reason why is just evolutionary theorys. So my theory is that if a skinny guy starts hardcore bodybuilding he will have a bigger kid. Logical huh?
So think about this, every action you take today affects your kids. Don't you want your kids to be happy, well off and succesfull? Start working on yourself.
Nope, I don't think so. What you're saying is pretty logical, but a man named Lamarck theorized about what you said a long time ago. Lamarck's theory of evolution talks about how what you do today can affect your kids. It's been proven wrong a long long time ago. If you lose your arm and you get a woman pregnant, your babies will still have two arms even if you have one.
By the way, what you said about that starvation thing is nurture. Your genes may tell your body you should be naturally big, but if starving to death...then you're going to be small. Your body isn't going to waste energy for you to grow taller over fueling your organs so you may live. That is nurture, how the environment affects you. Just because you have genes saying you're big doesn't mean anything unless the environment maximizes your potential. Even if you are small because you starved, you will always have the genes for being huge and it can still be passed down to your children. Even if you have genes to be 6' 5", you will never reach that full height if you eat pizza everyday. There's a reason why the nature vs nature debate is still going on.
For people that had immunity to the black plague. That could've been through chance of having the right genes. Learn some Mendel and his genetic experiments. When our cells become gametes, our genes mix...which is why each kid you have doesn't look the same. Also, if a woman is starved, that means she's not going to give nutrients to her growing baby, so the baby ends up small and comes out prematurely. That is purely nurture again. It has nothing to do with genetics.
Yes, DNA can change through mutations by UV rays, smoking, or whatever...but in terms of changing if you get something like Tay Sachs or cystic fibrosis, which are inherited genetic disorders, no. Usually if we get mutations while we're living, we get something called cancer.
SinJester said:
The guy the studied this found on that DNA has on and off codes that can severly change the DNA. A lot of chronic diseases is simply because the wrong bit of DNA is turned off.
Yea, that is true. That shows that people have mutated or bad genes that are passed on from one generation to another. The fact that certain alleles can turn on and off is where cancer research is going. There is a gene that tells your cells to stop dividing. If that isn't turned off at the right time, then your cells become cancerous.
Sorry for the long post, but get your facts straight and take some science classes