The Epigenetics Revolution

Biologist Nessa Carey explains epigenetics, the study of how cells read the same DNA differently, treating the genetic code less as a fixed mould than as a script open to interpretation. She takes up a puzzle the Human Genome Project left unsolved: why identical twins, or the many cells of one body, can turn out so differently despite sharing the same DNA. Tracing two decades of research, Carey asks why tortoiseshell cats are always female, how ants and queen bees keep order in a colony and why some plants flower only after a cold spell. She also covers aging, disease, drug addiction, famine and childhood trauma, and closes with where the research may lead.

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