(photo - Rick)Professor Hamish Spencer of the Zoology Dept, University of Otago, introduced his topic by checking what we knew of genetics, and the environment (not much). But there was much more to the story than that . Using the PKU Test (which babies have at birth and involves the heel prick) as an example. PKU is the result of a genetic problem and can have serious consequences. However it can be fixed by means of dietary supplements Thus it becomes a environmental disease also. He went on to talk about the traits in humans such as height, diabetes, musical ability, or sports ability etc. How much is influenced by genetics and how much by environment, the old nurture versus nature question. No one can say, it seems that one is not more important than the other. It is a matter of interaction between the two. And it is not related to just humans, all of life is interacting the same way. It is epigenetics. A new word in our vocabulary. A new word to think about. We learnt a lot from Prof. Spencer.
