Summary: A new study reveals a diverse array of genetic changes that occur in the brain following sensory experiences.

Source: Harvard.

“Nature and nurture is a convenient jingle of words, for it separates under two distinct heads the innumerable elements of which personality is composed. Nature is all that a man brings with himself into the world; nurture is every influence from without that affects him after his birth.” – Francis Galton, cousin of Charles Darwin, 1874.

Is it nature or nurture that ultimately shapes a human? Are actions and behaviors a result of genes or environment? Variations of these questions have been explored by countless philosophers and scientists across millennia. Yet, as biologists continue to better understand the mechanisms that underlie brain function, it is increasingly apparent that this long-debated dichotomy may be no dichotomy at all.

In a study published in Nature Neuroscience on Jan. 21, neuroscientists and…