Q. What is nature and what is nurture in relation to cellular memory?

A. The term “nature” refers to the inherited genetic characteristics contained in 46 chromosomes and 25,000 genes in the cell nucleus and the way in which they are expressed. Genetics is the study of heredity and the hereditary pattern of organisms related especially to genes and chromosomes. Body height, color of eyes, and IQ are believed to fall into the science of Genetics.

Nurture, on the other hand, refers to how environment acts upon nature (beginning with conception), and the transmittable imprinting stored in strands of regulatory proteins in the cell nucleus. Epigenetics is the study of the transmission of information from a cell to its descendants related especially to strands of regulatory proteins. Food preferences, a push toward some types of activities, a sense of déjà vu, and even images portrayed in dreams may fall into the science of Epigenetics.

An expanding body of information and knowledge suggests that what your ancestors ate, thought, and did, can impact you (their biological offspring). This can help to explain the reason that children who were raised in the same home by the same parents often turn out very differently; while children who are adopted may develop characteristics that are more like those of their biological parents than those of their adopted parents....