Question: who made all of us ?

Kate Clancy answered on 16 Jun 2011:

Our genetic parents, and the people who raise us!

There are people who study the impact of genes and environment on babies and children — well, mostly they do this on rats and mice, but some people are finally starting to make similar observations in humans.

Let me tell you a little about this research. Some researchers have done cross-fostering experiments — that means that mice give birth, but then scientists switch the babies. Some researchers even do cross-gestating — meaning they do in vitro fertilization on mice, switching their embryos. Then they compare the behavior of the cross-gestated and cross-fostered with controls — mice that weren’t switched. They found that both cross-gestating and cross-fostering leads mice to be more like the mums that raised them. And, if you do both — take a mouse embryo from mouse 1 and gestate it in mouse 2 AND have mouse 2 raise it — that the effect is even stronger. So prenatal and postnatal environment are hugely important to what makes you.

The reason I bring this up is to clarify my first sentence — who made you is to some extent who provided your genetic material, but the people who have raised you, parents or not, also play a very significant role. Isn’t that so cool?