The epigenetics revolution

Knowing an organism's full genetic code does not settle how it will develop or behave. Epigenetics is the field that addresses the gap, and this book sets out its foundations for readers without a specialist background.

Nessa Carey, a researcher working in epigenetics, traces the field across its twenty-year history and brings in recent findings and new techniques. She shows how nurture works alongside nature to produce the variety seen in living things.

The examples are deliberately varied. Ants and queen bees use these mechanisms to control their colonies. Tortoiseshell cats are always female. Some plants need a spell of cold weather before they can flower. The same ideas are applied to how bodies age and how disease develops.

The book then moves past pure biology to research areas that epigenetics now informs. These include addiction to drugs, the lasting effects of famine, and what childhood trauma does to body and mind. It closes with Carey's view of where the research is heading and how it might improve human health and well-being.

This is popular science non-fiction, written as an accessible introduction rather than a technical text.