ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some of what people have learned from science, author convinces them that they have to be careful about equating nature and genes; but nevertheless, genes do have great importance in children's development. Modern genetics has identified genes that control early development and are strongly similar across many species. There's very recent epidemiological evidence on gene methylation and nutrition in the ALSPAC study. The epigenesis is a term that has some ancient roots but was most influentially used by the developmental biologist C.H. Waddington in the 1950s. The chapter considers development of epigenesis as involving adaptation between organism and environment and as absolutely crucial to the interplay between genes and environment, and talks about genes and their expression being affected by development. The importance of environmental effects and developmental approaches is one focus of work which tries to explain the development of diseases and disorders.
