Can Your Behavior Affect Your Genes? - David Shenk April 9, 2010

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Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2010/03/18/The_Genius_in_All_of_Us_David_Shenk

Can the decisions you make influence your children's genetics? Maybe, according to emerging research. The Genius in All of Us author David Shenk introduces the field of epigenetics, which explores how environmental factors affect genetic expression.

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With irresistibly persuasive vigor, David Shenk, author of The Genius in All of Us, debunks the long-standing notion of genetic "giftedness."

Forget everything you think you know about genes, talent, and intelligence. In recent years, a mountain of scientific evidence has emerged suggesting a completely new paradigm: not talent scarcity, but latent talent abundance. Integrating cutting-edge research from a wide swath of disciplines—cognitive science, genetics, biology, child development—Shenk and The Genius in All of Us portrays a highly-optimistic new view of human potential. Genes are not a "blueprint" that doom some and bless others. Instead, genes are dynamic actors in a complex developmental process—dynamics that we can influence. - Commonwealth Club of California

David Shenk is the national bestselling author of five previous books, including The Forgetting, Data Smog and The Immortal Game. He is a correspondent for TheAtlantic.com, and has contributed to National Geographic, Slate, The New York Times, Gourmet, Harper's, The New Yorker, NPR, and PBS. Shenk's new book, The Genius in All of Us was published by Doubleday on March 9, 2010.

Shenk's book The Immortal Game: A History of Chess (Doubleday, 2006), was hailed as "superb," by The Wall Street Journal, "fresh and fascinating" by The Chicago Sun-Times, "engaging" by The Washington Post, and "a thrilling tour" by Entertainment Weekly. Shenk speaks frequently on the history, biology and social urgency of Alzheimer's disease. He has also advised the President's Council on Bioethics on dementia-related issues.

Prior to that, Shenk published two books and dozens of essays on the emotional, social and political ramifications of the information revolution.