Epigenetics

Tell-tale signs galore --
ceiling fan turned off,
a toilet paper roll,
open doors, empty bottles.
"Leave no trace" has lost.

Around chromosomes
lies cell material that can
turn off or on the genes
of the next generation.
What we do matters.

"Our true character appears when we think no one is watching," says Virginia.

"Do you mean, when I pick my nose?" says Who.

"No, not you, certainly," says Virginia.

[Note.  Research by a Norwegian physician suggested that boys who went from normal eating to gluttony in a single season, following a season of famine, produced sons and grandsons who lived much shorter lives than boys who ate normally.  Epigenetics is the study of changes in gene activity that do not involve alterations to the genetic code but still get passed to at least one successive generation. Time, Jan. 18, 2010.]