Octavusprime
5th December 2013, 18:24
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2516667/Scared-spiders-It-genetic-Phobias-unpleasant-child-experiences-parents-grandparents.html
This is a pretty amazing discovery in my opinion. Basically an experiment was conducted where certain mice populations are learned to fear a particular smell. The offspring of these mice would be born recognizing that smell to mean danger.
It may seem like a trivial experiment to some here but proving that past experiences can be encoded into DNA and that the experience is "recorded" for future generations, goes against the classic notion that evolution was driven by random mutations in DNA replication. The old thought was that these genetic mutations usually didn't do much but every so often would be a beneficial trait that would passed down to future generations.
What if your DNA is basically a collection of past experiences from all of your parents and grandparents going back millions of years. Your DNA could be a "written history" of collective thought.
The experiment uses smell, which is recognized by the ancient reptilian part of the brain. Smells can spark memories long forgotten. The need to recognize smell may have been a major driving factor behind mammals developing large brains. ----> http://www.npr.org/2011/05/20/136473969/the-nose-knows
I'm sure there are limits to what "memories" are passed down but likely traumatic experiences would be important and useful information for our progeny. Could this explain why some people can recall things from long dead ancestors? Are these past experiences encoded in our DNA and able to be tapped into and recalled?
Science, spirituality and science fiction combine, I love it!
This is a pretty amazing discovery in my opinion. Basically an experiment was conducted where certain mice populations are learned to fear a particular smell. The offspring of these mice would be born recognizing that smell to mean danger.
It may seem like a trivial experiment to some here but proving that past experiences can be encoded into DNA and that the experience is "recorded" for future generations, goes against the classic notion that evolution was driven by random mutations in DNA replication. The old thought was that these genetic mutations usually didn't do much but every so often would be a beneficial trait that would passed down to future generations.
What if your DNA is basically a collection of past experiences from all of your parents and grandparents going back millions of years. Your DNA could be a "written history" of collective thought.
The experiment uses smell, which is recognized by the ancient reptilian part of the brain. Smells can spark memories long forgotten. The need to recognize smell may have been a major driving factor behind mammals developing large brains. ----> http://www.npr.org/2011/05/20/136473969/the-nose-knows
I'm sure there are limits to what "memories" are passed down but likely traumatic experiences would be important and useful information for our progeny. Could this explain why some people can recall things from long dead ancestors? Are these past experiences encoded in our DNA and able to be tapped into and recalled?
Science, spirituality and science fiction combine, I love it!