Daily Tao – Sharon Moalem, Inheritance: How Our Genes Change Our Lives–and Our Lives Change Our Genes -1

Even death itself. Until now, most of us have been under the assumption that our life experiences end when our lives end. That’s wrong, too. We are the culmination of our life experience as well as the life experiences of our parents and ancestors. Because our genes don’t easily forget. War, peace, feast, famine, diaspora, disease—if our ancestors went through it and survived, we’ve inherited it. And once we’ve got it, we’re that much more likely to pass it on to the next generation in one way or another. That might mean cancer. It might mean Alzheimer’s disease. It might mean obesity. But it might also mean longevity. It might mean grace under fire. And it might just mean happiness itself. For better or for worse, we are now learning that it is possible to accept and reject our inheritance.

An interesting book that I’ve recently reread as I didn’t absorb too much during the 1st time I read it years ago. One of the key things that stood out was how the way we choose to live our lives can continue to having a lasting impact on our genes and our future descendants.

I’ll be sharing a few more passages (might be highly technical) over the next few days!

Share