# Pitting Honeybadger **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 7, 2018, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-honeybadger/810183 "2018-03-07T15:40:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 834
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2024, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-honeybadger/810183/834 "2024-02-18T22:23:20Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Sigh… after a suspension, he’s back. That’s not the problem, it’s that he’s banging one of his same old drums: his “certainty” that someone’s behavior can change their genes. Or, in his most recent post, “epi genetics” [sic]. Well, behaviour can’t change your genes, but it can change the way in which they are expressed. Epigenetics is a thing, and describes how some learned behaviours seem to be heritable. That could even include some effect on domestication. > **[Epigenetics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics)** > > In biology, epigenetics is the study of heritable traits, or a stable change of cell function, that happen without changes to the DNA sequence. The Greek prefix epi- (ἐπι- "over, outside of, around") in epigenetics implies features that are "on top of" or "in addition to" the traditional (DNA sequence based) genetic mechanism of inheritance. Epigenetics usually involves a change that is not erased by cell division, and affects the regulation of gene expression. Such effects on cellular a The te... It seems that Honeybadger’s error was to say that it causes your genes to change. But directionally he’s right that some learned behaviours appear to be passed on to new generations. The level of snark aimed at him over that small error is not called for, but an example of how the people disliked on this board get nitpicked and harassed over the smallest errors. If you want to fight ignorance, patiently explaining the difference between RNA and DNA, and gene expression vs genetic change might work a lot better than, “nyuk nyuk, you are stupid!” --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-honeybadger/810183)._