Evidence from human famines and animal studies suggests that starvation can affect the health of descendants of famished individuals.

A new study, involving roundworms, shows that starvation induces specific changes in so-called small RNAs and that these changes are inherited through at least three consecutive generations, apparently without any DNA involvement.

Yet again, modern science hands Jean-Baptiste Lamarck a (partial) posthumous victory. File under: “Science is Weird”.

Image via Columbia University Medical Center.
From the journal Cell via Science Daily for extensive quotations from the original Columbia University Medical Center article.