"To make one me you just add
Half of mom and half of dad
That is what I once believed
But I know now that I was wrong
I got so much more from you mom
Than just half a set of genes
I got nutrients and transcription factors
and nearly everything that matters
plus my prenatal environment (transplacental inheritance)
mRNA, mitochondria,
That back in the day once belonged to ya (theyre cytoplasmic)
and I just want to thank for supplying them
[...]"
-- Adam Cole, "A Biologist's Mother's Day
Song", (
YouTube,
CD Baby)
(a) Thanks to
drglam
for linking
to this earlier (uh, about two years earlier), and (b) Go
listen to the whole thing. Especially if you're even the tiniest
bit of a science geek (which I think covers the majority of my
friends).