EPIGENETICS IS A HIDDEN REVOLUTION
The science of epigenetics is just getting started, but promises to deliver big changes to the way we treat disease, understand heredity, and detect the hidden truth. Epigenetics is the term used to describe inheritance by mechanisms other than through the DNA sequence of genes. Researchers found that chronic exposure to a stress hormone causes modifications to DNA. A mutation is a change in DNA, the hereditary material of life. An organism’s DNA affects how it looks, how it behaves, and its physiology. So a change in an organism’s DNA can cause changes in all aspects of its life. Mutations are essential to evolution; they are the raw material of genetic variation. Epigenetic inheritance is an unconventional finding. What you experience in your lifetime can modify your DNA, and these changes can be passed down through the generations. It goes against the idea that inheritance happens only through the DNA code that passes from parent to offspring. It means that a parent’s experiences, in the form of epigenetic tags, can be passed down to future generations. Epigenetic mechanisms is important for long-term storage of information.
Epigenome changes as we develop but also due to a host of other reasons that scientists are just starting to understand. Epigenetic changes are also a part of brain diseases such as mental illness and addiction. Child abuse is an environmental factor that leaves an epigenetic mark on the brain. People who commit suicide have less-active protein production. Drugs of abuse such as cocaine trigger epigenetic changes in certain brain regions, affecting hundreds of genes at a time. Some of these changes remain long after the drug has been cleared from the system. We know that smoking, alcohol consumption, diet, physical activity, obesity, psychological stress, trauma, physical stress, infectious diseases, environmental pollutants, sun exposure, working night shift and countless other environmental factors can change our epigenomes. Experiences that our parents and grandparents had got before we were born may also impact on our lives.
For instance, during WWII, the Germans cut off food supplies to parts of the Netherlands causing a famine. Babies were born to women during this time had been found to have a lower birthweight. When those babies grew up and had their own babies, the third generation had significantly more problems with diabetes and obesity than the rest of the population. What human looked like after enduring such a global history of as many civilization evolutions as wars! Warmongers could be those who knew the reason why they had made wars on earth!
WORDS WITH PREPOSITIONS
Outfit: a set of clothes worn together especially for a particular occasion or purpose
Outflow: a large amount of money, liquid, or people that moves or is transferred out of a place
Outflank: move round the side of an enemy so as to outmanoeuvre them
Outgoing: riendly and socially confident
Outfall: the place where a river, drain, or sewer empties into the sea, a river, or a lake
Outfield: the outlying land of a farm
Outgroup: those people who do not belong to a specific in-group
Outgrowth: something that grows out of something else
Outline: a line or set of lines enclosing or indicating the shape of an object in a sketch or diagram
Outpatient: a patient who attends a hospital for treatment without staying there overnight
Outpost: a small military camp or position at some distance from the main army, used especially as a guard against surprise attack
Outperform: perform better than
Outpace: go, rise, or improve faster than
Outpour: flow out rapidly
Outreach: reach further than
Outrun: run or travel faster or further than
Outward: of, on, or from the outside
Outwit: deceive by greater ingenuity
Outwash: material carried away from a glacier by meltwater and deposited beyond the moraine
Outworn: out of date
Outspoken: frank in stating one’s opinions particularly if they are shocking or controversial
Outsourcing: obtaining goods or a service with contract from an outside supplier.
Outstanding: exceptionally good
Outsider: a person who does not belong to a particular organization or profession
Outskirts: the outer parts of a town or city
Outstretch: go beyond the limit of
Outsold: sold in greater quantities than
Outlook: a person’s point of view or general attitude to life
Outcome: the way a thing turns out
Outcast: a person who has been rejected or ostracized by their society or social group
Outcrop: a rock formation that is visible on the surface
Outcry: a strong expression of public disapproval or anger
Outcrossing: breeding an animal or plant with one not closely related
Outbreak: a sudden occurrence of something unwelcome
Outbound: travelling away from a particular place especially on the first leg of a return journey
Outback: any remote or sparsely populated inland region
Outburst: a sudden release of strong emotion
Outboard: on, towards, or near the outside of a ship or aircraft
Outbreeding: breeding from parents not closely related
Outtake: a scene, sequence, or song filmed or recorded for a film, programme, or record album but not included in the final version
