Epigenetics: Experience Writes on the Genome
Conrad Waddington / Michael Meaney · 1942
"Epigenetics shows experience can leave chemical marks on DNA that change gene expression without changing the code — and some marks, via careful animal models, appear responsive to stress, nutrition, and care."
Waddington coined 'epigenetics' in 1942 for how the same genome produces different outcomes by context. Meaney showed in the 2000s that rat pups licked more by mothers grew different stress responses because of a chemical mark, not a different gene.
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Mirror Neurons & Embodied Simulation
"Rizzolatti's team found neurons that fire both when a macaque grasps and when it watches another grasp — suggesting understanding others is not abstract inference alone but embodied simulation of their actions and intentions."