Following centuries of debate about "nature and nurture" the discovery
of DNA established the idea that nature (genes) determines who we are,
relegating nurture (environment) to icing on the cake.
Since the 1950s, the new science of epigenetics has demonstrated how
cellular environments and certain experiences and behaviors influence
gene expression at the molecular level, with significant implications
for health and wellbeing. To the amazement of scientists, mapping the
human genome indirectly supported these insights. Anthropologists
Margaret Lock and Gisli Palsson outline vituperative arguments from
Classical times about the relationship between nature and nurture,
furthered today by epigenetic findings and the demonstration of a
"reactive genome." The nature/nurture debate, they show, can never be
put to rest, because these concepts are in constant flux in response to
the new insights science continually offers.