During my undergrad someone noticed that rats born from moms who were proficient in running a particular maze ran that same maze faster than rats born from moms who had never run that maze. We weren’t the first to notice this effect. Lots of studies were done trying to figure out this ‘inherited memory’ process.
It was later realized that if you used ‘stressful’ triggers, like shock plates, then the ‘memories’ transferred easier. Further research found that it wasn’t the memories themselves that were transferred, it was a process of epigenetic modification where the stressful stimuli affected the offspring and made them more anxious, which increased their awareness and perception of the hazards of the maze, thereby avoiding them easier and finishing the maze faster. But now we know that you can actually induce avoidance of certain stimuli through inherited genetic memory using fear as the induction mechanism - which draws a lot of implications for the importance of treatment for anxiety disorders today.
The interesting thing about this was, yes, the science, but also the entire process of discovery. From noticing an effect, to the backlash from everyone who called inherited memories pseudoscience and not to waste research dollars on such tomfoolery, to becoming generally accepted, to the very important epigenetics discoveries happening now as a result.
The ‘inherited memory’ effects have been noticed since the 60’s at least, though you can make an argument for much longer. Point is, it’s taken that long for science to advance enough to allow us to start to figure out what might be causing these effects and for the idea to become accepted enough that it is now considered one of the most exciting areas of research. And research into epigenetic changes continues. There are current studies occurring concerning diet and lifestyle factors on all kinds of animals and what those changes to the mothers do to the offspring, and how far those changes go generationally. More importantly, research is also finding out how to reverse those changes. There are also studies looking at epigenetic changes on everything from yoga to mindfulness to sleep on humans showing how fast our genome responds to our daily activities, giving us control over our own genetic expression.
This is why I have a hard time when people put up immediate blocks to any scientific inquiry. Calling things pseudoscience and poo-pooing investigations into areas where not a lot of decent research has been done is small minded. Why do you want to ONLY study things that already have an exhaustive backlog of well documented research? That’s an ego thing and a fear of being wrong at play. That’s not discovery. That’s just validation studies. Which, don’t get me wrong, are extremely important. But give me an area of research no one’s taken a serious look at any day. Those are the areas with the biggest potential for genuinely huge scientific breakthroughs that revolutionize society. Those are the areas where discoveries occur where you wind up with streets named after you. Even the failures are remembered as cautionary tales. And a lot of times the research that proves what something isn’t is just as important as those showing what something is. Remember Lamark…? Where would we be if his heavily criticized theories hadn’t caught the attention of Darwin? And, as it turns out, he wasn't that far off the mark...(pun totally intended.)
You want to be remembered as a scientist? Go where no one else is willing to look. Yes, your peers today will throw stones at you for daring to be so bold as to be open to discovery, but future generations will hail you as a pioneer and marvel at your bravery. Or, you know… keep validating what we already know so no one will confront you or tell you that you’re wrong. That’s important too.