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Epigenetic research isn't going against evolution, it's refining some details. We are discovering some nonmendelian dynamics of inheritance, but being epigenet

• caprese 8y ago
  was it not clear that I was talking about OP's claim regarding "natural selection outside of the body" when epigenetic is not outside of the body and can result in changes of the offspring, does your response run counter to my observation? so far all the responses seem to be more about a semantical distinction of the word evolution and natural selection
  • fifnir 8y ago
    Well semantics are important, especially in fields that someone is intimate with, and I'm currently finishing a phd in cis-regulation and epigenetics. When we stress mice and notice a difference in their offspring through epigenetics, this is something that has already evolved in mice. Parts of the parental DNA get "marked" and the mark passes on to the offspring and influences their development, but the mechanism that connects external stress and the marking of the parental DNA is itself a genetic mechanism and subject to evolution. The offspring whose development was changed because of the parental stress isn't evolved, much like a baby with FASD[1] isn't "evolved" either [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetal_alcohol_spectrum_disorder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetal_alcohol_spectrum_disorde...