Epigentics explores "not just how cells control the genes inside them but also how altered genes are passed on when cells reproduce—both within an organism's lifetime and, more fantastically, across generations." Christine Kenneally examines those changes over time:
Epigenetic changes can occur in adulthood, in childhood, even in utero […] Epigenetic change means that not only do we start out as unwitting participants in a genetic lottery, but environmental forces we cannot see or control can mess with our genetic hardware and change our destiny.
Researcher and author Richard Francis is fortified by "the wonder of epigenetics and the molecular rigor it brings to the idea that life is a creative process not preordained by our genome any more than it is preordained by God."
The Dish 