Posted by: Some_Guy_from_RI
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Archived on: 8/10/2018 10:00:00 AM
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[–] SwiftLion 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
I've seen research like this before. It's a true thing. Regardless of what this article says (I haven't even read it yet), there is an effect I've read about that sounds like the basis for the same.
Take a homozygous chicken line, and breed yourself a dozen of them. Separate them into two cohorts of six. To one set, treat them nice: give them lots of food, make them feel safe, and so on. To the other, put them on an electric wire floor so you can just shock the shit out of them whenever you please. Do it reasonably often. The moment eggs are laid, take them away, so that they have minimal hormonal influence from the parent, and then raise the chicks together.
Even though there has been no opportunity for the chicks to learn behavior from their parents, you will easily be able to tell the "trauma chicks" away from the "treat chicks". The implication is that epigenetic markers can be switched on and off, and they can select "safe" or "neurotic" from inside a single genome.