Comments on 2 books
"Epigenetics - The Ultimate Mystery of Inheritance" by Richard C Francis
"The term epigenetic refers to long term alterations of DNA that don't involve changes in the DNA sequence itself". These changes are produced from the environment: from the food that we eat, from pollutants, and even from social interactions, and can last a lifetime.
This epigenetic process, or gene regulation, can even be "transgenerational"; either directly, as an "epigenetic mark" that is passed from parent to offspring as part of the original chromosome in the egg or sperm, although this does not commonly happen in mammals; or indirectly, by what is called "genomic imprinting", in successive generations.
"How Many Friends Does One Person Need?" - Dunbar's Number and Other Evolutionary Quirks by Robin Dunbar
This book contains many educational and enlightening "Darwinian" and other current scientific explantions and "stories".
The answere to the question of the title is 150, which the author, Robin Dunbar, says is now called "Dunbar's Number"; and he refers to it 4 times in this book.
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