A strange case of intergenerational memory
Nematode progeny “remember” bacteria encountered by a parent
CHARLES DARWIN did not invent the idea of evolution. But he did come up with the currently accepted explanation, natural selection, in which heritable characteristics arise by chance and are retained if competition shows them to be useful. Natural selection’s success overthrew an earlier idea proposed by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, a French natural historian. Lamarck had suggested that characteristics acquired by experience during an organism’s lifetime might somehow become heritable.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “The worm’s turn”
Science & technology February 26th 2022
From the February 26th 2022 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from Science & technology
Should you start lifting weights?
You’ll stay healthier for longer if you’re strong
Does melatonin work for jet lag?
It can help. But it depends where you’re going
Training AI models might not need enormous data centres
Eventually, models could be trained without any dedicated hardware at all
How the Gulf’s rulers want to harness the power of science
A stronger R&D base, they hope, will transform their countries’ economies. Will their plan work?
Cancer vaccines are showing promise at last
Trials are under way against skin, brain and lung tumours
New firefighting tech is being trialled in Sardinia’s ancient forests
It could sniff out blazes long before they spread out of control