❓ What is epigenetics, and why is "junk DNA" not really junk? 🙋 Epigenetics is the study of how environmental factors can affect gene expression without altering the DNA sequence itself. "Junk DNA," once thought to be useless, is actually crucial in regulating which genes are turned on or off. ⏳ The concept of "junk DNA" dates back to the 1970s when scientists discovered that a large portion of the human genome did not code for proteins.
