Abbott Out Loud

Through experiments done by Gregor Mendal ,who was an Australian monk new adaptations to Darwin's theory of  evolution by natural selection ironically happened during Darwin's lifetime. Although the monk published his findings the form of a journal it remained obscure and forgotten for many years.

The law of inheritance, based on assumptions that offspring inherit characteristics through a blend of characteristics from the parents was actually achieved by experimenting with generations of pea plants.

Alike as two peas in a pod is often used to refer to twins of an identical nature but the expression is from Mendal's experiments

 Through his results we now know that any one characteristic for example the colour of a flower is in fact inherited from not both but either the female parent or the male parent. The unit that passes on the determining characteristic is called the gene.

A Patch of Peas

In 1953 James Watson an American joined forces with Francis Crick an Englishman to show how genes transmit character .A complex molecule was found to be present in every cell of all living matter, this is unique in such that it contains  a sort of code for the form  of growth and development which will ensue in  a particular individual.This we know as DNA.

If DNA does actually control everything about behavioural patterns in an organism there are other implications to consider. Determining  factors in relation to free will and whether there is such a thing as human nature are  still politically debated, there are those who align with left thinkers -socialists ,communists and anarchists and it is these that have adopted the stance that a society of order and stability organised in the right way will allow humans to cooperate with each other and achieve happiness in a selfless manner.


Those in the field of Evolutionary psychology believe that behaviour  is predetermined  however, cognitive psychologists give learning an important role too.Key parts are played by society and culture  and overall the consensus seems to be that both genetic inheritance  and environmental conditions shape the way we are.

The good news is that I can offer an explanation to my younger offspring  about her bad gene pool, short in stature  equals father's responsibility,fat arms must be accredited  to me as maybe does not always fitting into her denim jeans , questioning her temperament I shall hold my council because as always with science we have yet another theory ,this time the one of chaos.