Can PE change my DNA?

While exercise cannot change the DNA a person has, it certainly can have an effect upon what genes are turned on and off. Researchers have found that exercise has an epigenetic effect upon the DNA. Click here for the abstract of the research. Scientific American has a podcast about the same thing

AP Biology students can take this information and expand upon it based on what we learned in class. Biology students should think about how this can be used and what might occur with it in the future.

Diet Counters Bad Gene

This podcast reviews a research study in which the causes of heart disease were studied. It was determined that although one of the causes of heart disease is a gene, the diet of the person determined whether or not the gene was turned on. Comment upon the research of the study. Was their study valid, why? What could be done to make the research better?