Can fear be passed down through generations?

witte muis

This may sound like a provocative question to some. After all, most of us like to believe that we are master of our own destiny and that we can create our own futures. But new research has revealed again that this may not be the case after all.

Scientist discovered that certain emotions experienced by mice can be passed down to their offspring because of changes in DNA. The researchers learned the mice to associate the fear of an electric shock with a scent of cherry blossom. It turned out that later generations of the mice seemed to have inherited the fear of the blossom’s scent, even though they weren’t exposed to any electric shocks.