# 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:** 841
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2024, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-honeybadger/810183/841 "2024-02-18T23:31:50Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Well, behaviour can’t change your genes, but it can change the way in which they are expressed. Jesus, this is tiresome. People say this (you’re not the first) as though it’s some kind of surprising new discovery. It is fucking obvious that gene expression constantly changes in response to the body’s needs. Do you imagine that all genes would be constantly switched on at the same level of expression producing exactly the same quantity of whatever it is they make? That’s idiotic. > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Epigenetics is a thing, and describes how some learned behaviours seem to be heritable. 99% of the field of epigenetics concerns mechanisms that routinely modulate gene expression in somatic (non-germline) cells, and any “inheritance” that we’re talking about there concerns **cell differentiation** , the passage of epigenetic modifications down differentiated lineages of somatic cells. Liver cell mitosis producing more liver cells. Not anything heritable in the evolutionary sense into the next generation. There is a much narrower subfield called **transgenerational epigenetic inheritance** , and only this part concerns the transmission of epigenetic modifications via germline cells into the next generation. Although this is a real phenomenon, it’s **importance** has been massively overhyped. Virtually all epigenetic modifications are wiped in germ cells. There is no evidence that inherited epigenetic modifications can persist for more than a few generations (and rarely more than one), and no evidence that is has any significance in evolution. > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > 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. The amount of snark is absolutely justified when this has been patiently explained to Honeybadger more than once\*, when he completely ignores it because it doesn’t suit his preconceptions, and when he invetiably returns a few weeks or months later to spout the same ignorant nonsense. \*see here for example: > [@Can behavior affect our DNA](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-behavior-affect-our-dna/992736/3): > > Our behavior obviously determines whether our genetic code is passed on, as @DPRK notes. Our behavior can also affect the DNA mutation rate in germline cells through exposure to mutagens, but this is only the rate at which functionally random changes occur. In response to the environment (i.e. including our behavioral interaction with the environment), the genome in many cells is constantly modified without changing the DNA base sequence to modulate what information is read out and in what qu… --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-honeybadger/810183)._