This is more amazing than the title makes it sound. This isn't talking about the "Father" of the fly, but a sperm that entered the egg after it was fertilized. Non-genetic inheritance... very interesting. I hope it can be replicated.
Double-edged sword. On the one hand, I'm only going to marry a virgin now. On the other hand, there might already be kids walking around out there who resemble me.
More seriously, I love research like this that challenges existing understanding. Of course, if it holds true for humans this certainly opens up a Pandora's Box of sorts (which is what I was aiming for in the above comment).
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 29.3 ms ] threadIt's unclear to me what 'contaminated' means here, but I'm not a biologist.
Interesting if it holds up and is widely applicable. Spontaneously it strikes me that it might have important consequences for female promiscuity.
"According to Encyclopedia Britannica, telegony is now classed as superstition.[3]"
http://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science/semen-secrets-how-p...
Otherwise, see what one could achieve by leaving out the flies in the headline altogether, leave it to the Brits:
Your baby looks like your ex? This research is scarier than Alien http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/02/baby-lo...
Could previous lovers influence appearance of future children? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/11133203/Cou...
So I guess we just made it half-way through the science news cycle: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1174
More seriously, I love research like this that challenges existing understanding. Of course, if it holds true for humans this certainly opens up a Pandora's Box of sorts (which is what I was aiming for in the above comment).