Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by means of natural selection lacked valid hypotheses on the nature and mechanism of inheritance as well as on the origin and preservation of biological variation.

Scientists have presented new findings that challenge established concepts of genetic inheritance. They have demonstrated that somatic cells of the roundworm C. elegans influence heredity. Scientists ...

Gregor Mendel discovered the basic principles of heredity through experiments with pea plants, long before the discovery of DNA and genes. Mendel was an Augustinian monk at St Thomas’s Abbey near ...

The concept of epigenetic inheritance has long been controversial. Some researchers hope that new data on cross-generational effects of environmental exposures will help settle the debate. Andrea ...