Can memories be explicitly encoded in genes? If not then no. End of the story.
Note that I'm not claiming here that memories can be encoded in genes; I'm also not making a strong claim here that memories can be encoded epigenetically!
What I am arguing against is the claim that the only possible method of transmission of traits is through DNA, which is what parent comment said, and has been out of date for quite some time.
Your genes are a recipe book, not a blueprint. What recipe is chosen is based somewhat on environmental effects. When you reproduce, you pass on the book + the earmarks on the pages.
In your comment, the word "Explicitly" is the controversial part. Of course a memory cannot be _explicitly_ (like .mp4? lol) encoded in genetics. But effects pass on, or so says the field. It's the same as how the word "Memories" in the title is doing a lot of hand-wavey hype generation. Can I share a password or birthday party during intercourse? Of course not.
Indeed so the answer to the question: Can you inherit memories from your ancestors? Is No. Full stop.
You want to talk about how the vibes during your grandparents lives affected some obscure part of your parents health then ok. But these things are completely different.
With our current knowledge, we cannot either prove or disprove this.
But if you want a nuanced discussion of the article, we should soften the gaze a little. That's all I'm saying.
We would still be cavemen with that attitude.
It’s mentioned in the article here: > How had this happened? The team discovered that the DNA in the grandfather mouse’s sperm had changed shape. … The gene for this olfactory receptor had been demethylated (chemically tagged), …
As well as in the abstract of the linked study:
> Bisulfite sequencing of sperm DNA from conditioned F0 males and F1 naive offspring revealed CpG hypomethylation in the Olfr151 gene.
> The study made use of mice’s love of cherries. Typically, when a waft of sweet cherry scent reaches a mouse’s nose, a signal is sent to the nucleus accumbens, causing this pleasure zone to light up and motivate the mouse to scurry around in search of the treat. The scientists exposed a group of mice first to a cherry-like smell and then immediately to a mild electric shock. The mice quickly learned to freeze in anticipation every time they smelled cherries. They had pups, and their pups were left to lead happy lives without electric shocks, though with no access to cherries. The pups grew up and had offspring of their own.
> At this point, the scientists took up the experiment again. Could the acquired association of a shock with the sweet smell possibly have been transmitted to the third generation? It had. The grandpups were highly fearful of and more sensitive to the smell of cherries.
> Might this new understanding increase our capacity for self-awareness and empathy? If we can grasp the potential impact of our ancestors’ experiences on our own behaviour, might we be more understanding of others, who are also carrying the inherited weight of experience?
They are literally refereeing to the concept of inherited trauma and inter-generational memory throughout the piece. It's a favorite hobby-horse of the guardian and while they are somewhat subtle here and dress it up by picking a very old study, they are in fact talking about the kind of ideas appearing in popular self help books like The Body Keeps the Score, and other things in their orbit. The author of the article in question is hawking a similar book on the guardian's books platform.
Claims don't have question marks.
But since there are so many such statemetns, feel free to post a few examples.
>Scientists working in the emerging field of epigenetics have discovered the mechanism that allows lived experience and acquired knowledge to be passed on within one generation, by altering the shape of a particular gene.
Also pretty debatable:
> or the trauma inflicted on your grandfather when he fled his home as a refugee, might go on to shape your parents’ brains, their behaviours and eventually yours.
Or a reference to the thoroughly academically panned The Body Keeps the Score:
> It’s not just our body that keeps the score but our very genes.
Counterpoint : "But, as Weiss discovered in a 2008 study, moths and butterflies can retain memories from their time as caterpillars, suggesting that the creatures' nervous system remains during the transformation into a butterfly."