Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Poverty leaves a mark on our genes

eurekalert.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–66 of 66 posts

Re: Poverty leaves a mark on our genes

#61

Post by wallace_f »

rolltiide wrote: post #60
wallace_f wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what fraction of paid jobs even contribute greater than their cost to society. The War on Poverty has spent trillions, and poverty has increased. A lot of industries obviously don't contribute (tax attorneys, lobbyists, bureaucrats, administrators (see the Rise of the Administrator in healthcare), even much of law enforcement, academia, or regulators). Actually even my first high-paid job working for a f…

I don't agree on that being the immediate issue. The bottom with disruptions to their income are detrimental to society’s health. Public sector monetary solutions are untolerated and private sector solutions of employment are often inaccessible or inadequate. We can address their productivity.

It's not the problem for those that can't work--the truly disabled--but I think it is for those who can. They're not inherently incapable of being productive.

Re: Poverty leaves a mark on our genes

#62

Post by mehrdadn »

arkades wrote: post #58
mehrdadn wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I've been trying to dig something up. Here's all there is in the 8th edition -- like just 3 sentences: https://books.google.com/books?id=5nZlDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA358&lpg=...

They didn’t generally refer to it explicitly as epigenetics - they tended to cover the exact mechanisms. Check out pg 358’s dedicated subsection to methylation, for example. The word epigenetics won’t be mentioned, but it’s one of the classic epigenetic mechanisms.

I'm not sure if I understand that section correctly, but it sounds like it's talking not about inheritance across organisms, but about replication within an organism?

Re: Poverty leaves a mark on our genes

#63

Post by sideshowb »

astura wrote: post #15
BearsAreCool wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is new knowledge to me, where do I read about this?

https://www.whatisepigenetics.com/what-is-epigenetics/

Is there reliable evidence that eating certain foods improves health through epigenetic pathways, as that site claims, or is that just nutrition woo?

Re: Poverty leaves a mark on our genes

#64

Post by reasonaway »

aluren wrote: post #45
reasonaway wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genes do explain much of the variation between people for many characteristics. You can think of them as initial character stats that are then modified by environmental factors and random noise.

Again, that's not how our modern understanding of genomics works, and hasn't been since the 1980's. There's much, much more to it than genes+environment. See all the mechanisms I've mentioned in GP. Also, you brought up 'variation between people', which can be aditionnally confounded by things that have nothing to do with DNA at all, such as the various microbiomes. It's important to note that heritability is not som…

The complexity of how biological mechanisms work does not change basic facts about genetics. There isn't any conflict between the two.

Your second point is not true for complex polygenic traits like height. Height is strongly influenced by genetics but we will likely never understand the exact mechanisms that do this.

Re: Poverty leaves a mark on our genes

#65

Post by arkades »

mehrdadn wrote: post #62
arkades wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They didn’t generally refer to it explicitly as epigenetics - they tended to cover the exact mechanisms. Check out pg 358’s dedicated subsection to methylation, for example. The word epigenetics won’t be mentioned, but it’s one of the classic epigenetic mechanisms.

I'm not sure if I understand that section correctly, but it sounds like it's talking not about inheritance across organisms, but about replication within an organism?

Methylation and acetylation of sex chromosomes is inherited. In somatic tissues it affects downstream development; in gonads, it becomes a heritable trait.

Re: Poverty leaves a mark on our genes

#66

Post by apathy »

sideshowb wrote: post #63
astura wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.whatisepigenetics.com/what-is-epigenetics/

Is there reliable evidence that eating certain foods improves health through epigenetic pathways, as that site claims, or is that just nutrition woo?

woo
Post reply on HN