8/9/2019 Scientists Have Found That Memories Can Be Passed Down Through Generations in Our Genes

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Scientists Have Found ThatMemories Can Be Passed Down

Through Generations In Our Genes

New research from Emory University School of Medicine, in Atlanta, has shown that it is

possible for some information to be inherited biologically through chemical changes that occur

in DNA. During the tests they learned that that mice can pass on learned information about

traumatic or stressful eperiences ! in this case a fear of the smell of cherry blossom ! to

subse"uent generations.

According to the #elegraph, Dr $rian Dias, from the department of psychiatry at Emory

University, said% &'rom a translational perspective, our results allow us to appreciate how the

eperiences of a parent, before even conceiving o(spring, mar)edly in*uence both structure

and function in the nervous system of subse"uent generations.

+Such a phenomenon may contribute to the etiology and potential intergenerational

transmission of ris) for neuropsychiatric disorders such as phobias, aniety and posttraumatic

stress disorder.&

#his suggests that eperiences are somehow transferred from the brain into the genome,

allowing them to be passed on to later generations.

#he researchers now hope to carry out further wor) to understand how the information comes

to be stored on the DNA in the -rst place.

rofessor Marcus embrey, a paediatric geneticist at University /ollege 0ondon, said the wor)

provided +compelling evidence& for the biological transmission of memory.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/10486479/Phobias-may-be-memories-passed-down-in-genes-from-ancestors.htmlhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/10486479/Phobias-may-be-memories-passed-down-in-genes-from-ancestors.html

8/9/2019 Scientists Have Found That Memories Can Be Passed Down Through Generations in Our Genes

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1e added% +2t addresses constitutional fearfulness that is highly relevant to phobias, aniety and

posttraumatic stress disorders, plus the controversial sub3ect of transmission of the 4memory5

of ancestral eperience down the generations.

+2t is high time public health researchers too) human transgenerational responses seriously.&

+2 suspect we will not understand the rise in neuropsychiatric disorders or obesity, diabetes and

metabolic disruptions generally without ta)ing a multigenerational approach.&

rofessor 6olf 7ei), head of epigenetics at the $abraham 2nstitute in /ambridge, said, however,

further wor) was needed before such results could be applied to humans.

1e said% +#hese types of results are encouraging as they suggest that transgenerational

inheritance eists and is mediated by epigenetics, but more careful mechanistic study of animal

models is needed before etrapolating such -ndings to humans.&

As theoriginal 3ournal article published in the prestigious 3ournal Natureconcludes, +8ur

-ndings provide a framewor) for addressing how environmental information may be inherited

transgenerationally at behavioral, neuroanatomical and epigenetic levels.&

/ould our DNA be carrying spiritual and mystical memories passed down in genes from the

eperiences of our ancestors9 Does something such as spiritual evolution fester its way into

the genetic se"uence and carry over into the net generation9 6e now have a scienti-c

framewor) for answering these "uestions.

http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v17/n1/full/nn.3594.htmlhttp://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v17/n1/full/nn.3594.html