The explanation may be this:
Scientists believe this quirk in inheritance could be due to some unknown molecule in the males’ seminal fluid, which could be absorbed by the females’ immature eggs. The lingering molecule could affect offspring once another male fertilizes them.
The findings resurrect Aristotle’s theory of telegony, which posits that males leave a mark on a woman’s body that influences her children, even if another man sired them. That idea was discredited in the 20th century as modern genetics emerged. However, in light of this study the
idea of telegony appears to warrant a revisiting, to see if it also might occur in other species.
Inheritance, it seems, can take lots of forms — a continuing complication of Mendel’s simple idea.
Yeah I read that earlier today. However a single study is next to useless for drawing conclusions. Nonetheless I am used to conventional ideas being overturned. From the collapse of the self-nonself model of immunology, that disastrous and hopelessly simplistic modular hypothesis regarding brain function, to no new brain cells in adulthood, and epigenetics. New stuff is popping up all the time.
ReplyDeleteBut it is still a single study, at best an allegation.