Epigenetics: How Environment Changes Your Biology [TTC Audio]

Epigenetics is the science of living DNA, charting the chemical pathways that spur DNA into action by turning genes on and off. While the Human Genome Project of the early 2000s was hailed as the key to understanding human heredity and disease, that historic effort was just the beginning. It has taken epigenetics to fill in the picture, explaining how the fixed code of our genome is implemented in countless living processes.

Epigenetics has led to surprises galore, among them that our environment and behavior affects the way our genes work. What’s more, epigenetic research shows that our parents’ environment and behavior also affect our genes, upending the traditional argument on nature versus nurture.

Taught by noted epigeneticist, physician, and science communicator Dr. Charlotte Mykura, Epigenetics: How Environment Changes Your Biology covers the nuts and bolts of this fascinating science in 12 in-depth, half-hour lectures.

Lively and authoritative, Dr. Mykura explains how epigenetics is ubiquitous at the cellular level, influenced by activities like diet and lifestyle. For example, aging is largely an epigenetic phenomenon. So is our susceptibility to many diseases, as well as our body’s ability to fight infection. You learn how epigenetics governs human X and Y chromosomes, the miraculous process of building an embryo, and the transmission of environmental experience between generations. And you investigate how epigenetics evolved in the first place and where the epigenetic universe might take us next, especially in the realm of medicine.

Research in epigenetics has been recognized with several Nobel prizes, and the field will only grow in importance as scientists probe the mystery at the heart of our DNA.