Offspring can resemble a mother’s previous mate

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in science on (#2T52)
The physical traits of previous sexual partners could be passed on to future children. Telegony was first hypothesized by Aristotle and was a widely held belief in the Middle Ages and up until the 19th century. The theory was discredited by the advent of genetics, but may have some truth to it after all. Scientists at the University of New South Wales discovered that, for fruit flies at least, the size of the young was determined by the size of the first male the mother mated with, rather than the second male that sired the offspring.

"We know that features that run in families are not just influenced by the genes that are passed down from parents to their children. Various non-genetic inheritance mechanisms make it possible for environmental factors to influence characteristics of a child. Our new findings take this to a whole new level - showing a male can also transmit some of his acquired features to offspring sired by other males," says lead author Dr Angela Crean.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/11133203/Could-previous-lovers-influence-appearance-of-future-children.html

Re: Balderdash (Score: 1)

by tanuki64@pipedot.org on 2014-10-08 13:34 (#2T65)

Why does evolution matter so much to creationists? Too many people cannot distinguish between pure scientific facts and possible social and cultural reactions to scientific findings.

Though he is not totally wrong. This article is sensationalistic. The leap from 'fruit flies have the size of a former mate' and possible similar mechanisms in mammals is gigantic. First they should research the exact mechanism for the effect in fruit flies. Especially if there is DNA in any way involved. For all I care they can already start similar experiments with mice. But to speculate at this point about humans... too early.

But then again... often a huge gap between what scientists say and what journalists hear.
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