When I took biology many many many years, the Lysenko idea that acquired characteristics are inheritable was unacceptable except in Russia where the Communist government tried rather rigorously to apply it to agriculture. I recall that it didn't really work there, though perhaps in a very limited way it did but wasn't given any recognition in the west because of the politics of the time.
I don't think epigenetics is quit the same thing as Lysenkoism. From what little I've read, I see it as a much softer and less definite idea, sometimes expressed as something like talented parents having talented children or as the inter-generational ability to adapt to changing conditions. One thing I've often wondered about is what lies behind human skin color. Seventy to one-hundred thousand years ago we were all black Africans. Yet people that moved into the colder conditions of Europe became white. Other people also moved from black to paler colors more suitable to a new environment. I'll stop here because I'm in danger of getting into a situation of "way over my head". I may already be there. Ed ________________________________ From: Lorna Salzman <lsalzm...@verizon.net> To: Arthur Cordell <denar...@sympatico.ca> Cc: "'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION'" <futurework@lists.uwaterloo.ca>; 'Ed Weick' <ewe...@rogers.com>; 'Keith Hudson' <keithhudso...@gmail.com>; 'Mike Hollinshead' <facingthefut...@shaw.ca>; 'Steve Kurtz' <kur...@ncf.ca> Sent: Monday, June 17, 2013 7:00:36 PM Subject: Re: epigenetics and lysenkoism There are various definitions of epigenetics but the closest it gets to Lysenko is when a gamete (egg or sperm) is changed in some way before fertilization, in which case the change would be inherited. Epigenetics mostly has to do with the expression of genes, not with any changes in DNA. That's all I know. We do know of course that gametes as well as DNA can be damaged by radiation and some chemicals. Lorna On Jun 17, 2013, at 6:41 PM, Arthur Cordell wrote: I wonder that Keith in particular but the others as well think of the overlap between epigenetics and Lysenkoism which is: > >“A biological doctrine developed by Trofim Lysenko that maintains the >possibility of inheriting environmentally acquired characteristics.” > >Arthur > >
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