Lamarck Was Right: Difference between revisions

In [[The Golden Age of Comic Books]], there were well established ways for a character to [[Super Hero Origin|gain his or her powers]]: being bitten by a [[Applied Phlebotinum|radioactive spider]], doing years of [[Charles Atlas Superpower|Charles Atlas training]], having a [[Die or Fly|near-death experience]], extensive mystic training, getting an [[Green Lantern Ring|artifact of great power]], being [[Crimefighting With Cash|disgustingly wealthy]], and scores of other imaginative [[Backstory|backstories]]. With the advent of the [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|Silver Age]] onwards, these [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] heroes had children. Naturally, they inherited their parents' powers and heroic tendencies and many became [[Legacy Character|legacy characters]], through the sometimes magical agency of [[Superpowerful Genetics]].

If the comic or show is rife with [[My Kung Fu Is Stronger Than Yours]], then the superkid will luck out and be ''at least'' as powerful as the strongest parent at the time of conception, and often [[Goo Goo Godlike|radically more powerful]]. This can get interesting if a family has more than one kid, as each succeeding one gets stronger. This usually also applies to fighting skills; they'll be a prodigy black belt before they can walk. If the parent got their powers from a magical or technological artifact, they'll have ''"internalized"'' and passed on that item's power. To use a real world analogy: if your mom were an IT expert that always carried around a laptop, you'd have a Bluetooth connection in your head and know how to code a Linux kernel from scratch.

Other times, if the parent got their power from a [[Freak Lab Accident]] involving [[Applied Phlebotinum]], their children will all have that same power, regardless of whether it affected their DNA. This also applies to magic and telepathic powers. Of course, with [[A Wizard Did It|magic]], the reason it's passed down will frequently be less biological than spiritual, so the usual rules need not apply. Another real-world analogy: If your dad were a food tester who developed a high tolerance for poison through controlled exposure, you'd have his high resistance and then some. This one is often [[Retcon|retconned]] into a [[Meta Origin]] or [[Secret Legacy]]; for instance, maybe the accident didn't ''cause'' your dad's powers, it just unlocked the powers already in his DNA, and he passed the "unlocked" version on to you -- and note that ''this'' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics is real science].

A.k.a. [[Inheritance of Acquired Traits]]. See also [[Evolutionary Levels]] and [[Superpowerful Genetics]]. Compare [[In the Blood]] for the morality version. [[Generation Xerox]] is this trope [[Up to Eleven]]; the kids inherit more than just their parent's physical traits. [[Sub Trope]] of [[All Theories Are True]]. [[Muggle Born of Mages]] is the [[Subversion]]. [[Randomly Gifted]] is an [[Aversion]].

** Which didn't actually make any sense, considering this was maybe a year after [[Daddy's Little Villain|Talia al-Ghul]] managed to steal the formula and use it [[Grant Morrisons Batman (Comic Book)|create an army of ninja Man-Bats]].

* In a season two episode of ''[[Babylon 5 (TV)|Babylon 5]]'', it is revealed that the PsiCorps have developed a treatment that turns telepaths into empaths, and that they want to subject Talia to the treatment and then have her get with the other empath to make lots of empath babies, proving that they are not only evil, they also [[You Fail Biology Forever|Fail Biology Forever]].

* As mentioned above, recently, it's been discovered that some acquired changes ''can'' be inherited, albeit in a weaker, less permanent, and (probably) less important form. The study of this is called [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics epigenetics]. Basically, chemical changes to the DNA can help inactivate or activate parts of it -- and because it's still DNA, these can be passed on. For instance, malnutrition might mean that your DNA doesn't methylate properly while you're growing up, and conditions in the womb can affect development of the fetus, which can pass on some information about the mother's environment -- how much food is available, and so on -- to the child. [[Science Marches On]]. <ref>Note that technically epigenetics is the study of DNA being turned on and off ''in general'', something that happens all the time in a living organism. What's recent is the discovery that these normally short-lived changes can sometimes last long enough to be inherited.</ref>

*** Unless they are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aposthia aposthic].

* Some genetic diseases like Myotonic Dystrophy are subject to "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_anticipation Anticipation]". This means that if one or the two parents show a slight variant of the disease, the children will not only inherit the disease, but often suffer a harsher and earlier form of it, and this will only increase with each new generation. The reason is that the disease is caused by having more than a determined number of repetitions of a certain gene sequence and since 1) everybody suffers mutations during its life (though they rarely have any effect or show up at all) and 2) repetitions are among the most common mutations, people with more repetitions are more likely to gain even more, and thus to pass a larger sequence to their descendants to begin with. It has been discovered recently that other diseases are also linked to repeated sequences (such as Fragile X Syndrome, Kennedy's Disease and Huntington's Chorea) and as result these might be subject to anticipation as well.

* Several percent of human genome is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endogenous_retrovirus Endogenous retrovirus] DNA. One of our ancestors got infected by a retrovirus, which made its way into the said ancestor's germ cells. Bingo! Now his/her children inherit the virus DNA with the parent DNA, until this day. Some of the endogenous retrovirus DNA has since mutated and became junk DNA ''sensu stricto'', but some of those viruses are actually still active, for better or for worse (like helping the embryo implant in the womb, or playing a role in several diseases). It is highly unlikely the original infection was via a [[Spider-Man|spider bite]], though, or it would be a rare Lamarckian [[Funny Aneurysm Moment]].

* To a certain extent, this is true anyway, though less based upon what your parents did, and more what they ''[[I Did What I Had to Do|needed to do]] to survive.'' For example, native-born Koreans [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_odor don't sweat the same way], because not sweating is a way to survive in cold climates. Likewise tanning skin is likely an adaptation to very sunny climates. The process, however, is reversible over time if the need suddenly no longer exists.

[[Category:Trope]]