Epigenetics is a nascent, exciting field and due to its broad scope, it is used to rationalize the 'it might be so' potential of the mundane (evolutionary psychology) to the silly (social psychology) but some new research reveals a potential way for how parents' experiences could be passed to their offspring's genes. 

Epigenetics is a system that turns our genes on and off. The process works by chemical tags, known as epigenetic marks, attaching to DNA and telling a cell to either use or ignore a particular gene. The most common epigenetic mark is a methyl group. When these groups fasten to DNA through a process called methylation they block the attachment of proteins which normally turn the genes on. As a result, the gene is turned off.

Studies are revealing new details about a molecular surveillance system that helps detect and correct errors in cell division that can lead to cell death or human diseases.

The purpose of cell division is to evenly distribute the genome between two daughter cells. To achieve this, every chromosome must properly interact with a football-shaped structure called the spindle. However, interaction errors between the chromosomes and spindle during division are amazingly common, occurring in 86 to 90 percent of chromosomes, says cell biologist Thomas Maresca at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The key to flawless cell division is to correct dangerous interactions before the cell splits in two.  

The IFIT protein enables the human immune system to detect viruses and prevent infection by acting as foot soldiers guarding the body against infection. They recognize foreign viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) produced by the virus and act as defender molecules by potentially latching onto the genome of the virus and preventing it from making copies of itself, blocking infection. 

Not all isolated stem cells are equally valid in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering - only a specific group of cord blood stem cells (CB-SC) maintained in culture are useful for therapeutic purposes, say researchers in a new paper.

At present,  cord blood stem cells
 - adult stem cells - are key to regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. From all types of
cord blood stem cells
those called "Wharton's jelly stem cells" (HWJSC) have piqued the interest of specialists in regenerative medicine at the University of Granada and Alcalá de Henares University, because of their accessibility and ability to develop into several types of tissue and modulate immune responses.

While diet and exercise are guaranteed to eliminate obesity, there can sometimes be a biological issue that arises, making it harder to lose fat. 

Pop culture diet doctors selling books have done a lot of damage by recommending people not just diet because they claim the metabolism 'slows down' and stores more fat and burns less energy. It happens, but not enough for most people to not simply diet.  

Collagen, the most abundant protein in the body, is widely used to build scaffolds for tissue engineering because it is biocompatible and biodegradable. Collagen is, however, hard to work with in its natural form because it is largely insoluble in water, and common processing techniques reduce its strength and disrupt its fibrous structure.

Researchers have fabricated an artificial protein in the laboratory and examined the ways living cells respond to it. 

Shocks to your metabolism are a good thing but you can't let them be persistent.  

People who are jet-lagged,  work graveyard shifts and late-night snackers are engaging in activities that upset the body's "food clock," a collection of interacting genes and molecules known technically as the food-entrainable oscillator, which keeps the human body on a metabolic even keel.  That happens with binge eating during the holidays too.