A Killer’s DNA – The Weird Side of the Internet – by Liam Sweeny.
Epigenetics. Yup, it’s science time. Or maybe pseudoscience, or something in between.
Epigenetics is the theory that things you pick up or go through in life somehow gets carried into your genetics, or DNA, or whatever. So if you develop a taste for heavy metal, say, and you have a kid that immediately gets whisked away and raised in Timbuktu, they will grow up with a taste for heavy metal (or whatever heavy music they have in Timbuktu.)
They’ve done studies on the children of veterans and found that their mortality as they get older is less that a control group.
Where this really becomes interesting is when organs are transplanted. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence of organ recipients taking on the lives of the donors. For example, one man who received a heart from a suicide case developed his donor’s favorite food, married his wife, and five years later committed suicide.
There’s some parts of epigenetics that are misused and honestly bunkus. Some people in the incel category claim that women absorb DNA from every man they sleep with. This isn’t borne out by any real studies, and it just slut-shaming masking as science.
And of course, epigenetics raises a questin found in all kinds of horror movies; what if you get the heart of a serial killer? Unfortunately, we don’t know. First, most people wouldn’t want the heart of a known serial killer. Second, and most importantly, the recipient of a serial killer’s heart isn’t going to tell anyone they’ve started murdering folks.
Epigenetics, if its true, is fascinating. It means that what you go through in your life might get passed on to your future generations as well as all the biological stuff. Kinda makes you want to live better, right? Or stay childless and life furiously. It may also be a part of understanding kids with natural gifts. Some things might actually be “in your blood.”