New cells are born every day in the brain's hippocampus . This is the long term memory area, the hard drive for those of us who think better with metaphors. Neuroscientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have discovered that the birth of new cells , which depends on brain activity, also depends on a protein that is involved in changing epigenetic marks in the cell's genetic material. Epigenetic changes are fairly cool to think about as a Fiction writer, for example; Epigenetic changes have also been observed to occur in response to environmental exposure—for example, mice given some dietary supplements have epigenetic changes affecting expression of the agouti gene , which affects their fur color, weight, and propensity to develop cancer The idea of changes in fur color and weight (physical manifestations) because of a epigenetic change, which has been induced by the researcher, and the change being predictable has long reaching possibilities, and certain
...giving all the feels.