Niche picking is a psychological theory that people choose environments that complement their heredity. For example, extroverts may deliberately engage with others like themselves.

Canalized traits are phenotypically expressed only in particular environments or genetic backgrounds and become available for natural selection, a mechanism that can lead to the assimilation of novel traits.

The degree to which a trait or an ability of one individual is similar to that of another, between children and their biological/adoptive parents. Conversely, intelligence is a trait that is NOT deeply canalized and is therefore much more variable in its outcome than walking or sitting.

A niche is a place or position that’s particularly appropriate for someone or something, especially due to being very specific and different from others. In ecology, niche refers to the position or function that an organism occupies within its environment among other species of plants and animals.

Evocative (or reactive) genotype–environment correlation refers to the association between an individual’s genetically influenced behaviour and others’ reactions to that behaviour. GxE explains why heavy drug use is most likely to lead to psychosis only among individuals with a particular genotype.4)

The interaction between the genetic factors and environmental stimulus is what results in the disease phenotype. There may be significant public health benefits in using gene by environment interactions to prevent or cure disease.

Gene-Environment Interactions: The environment a child is exposed to both in utero and throughout the rest of his or her life can also impact how genes are expressed. Height is a good example of a genetic trait that can be influenced by environmental factors.

An active lifestyle will awaken the best genes. An active lifestyle influences changes as well. You don’t have to be an exercise junkie to get good results. All you need to do is indulge in some sport or physical activity such as dancing or running on a regular basis.

Put simply, what you eat won’t change the sequence of your DNA, but your diet has a profound effect on how you “express” the possibilities encoded in your DNA. The foods you consume can turn on or off certain genetic markers which play a major – and even life or death – role in your health outcomes.

Gene editing has immense potential for basic research; scientists can learn a lot about what genes do by selectively disabling them. Beyond agriculture, gene editing has enormous potential for medicine. It might, for instance, become a much-needed treatment for sickle cell disease.

Gene editing techniques have benefits such as: the treatment of diseases; creation of model organisms for basic biomedical research; development of transgenic foods, among other applications. However, discussions have been held in order to determine the risks of this technology.